Throughout 2023-24, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is undertaking a comprehensive review of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), a system that describes and categorises occupations within Australia and New Zealand.
As a Jobs and Skills Council (JSC) Skills Insight is dedicated to improving workforce, skills and training outcomes for the agribusiness, fibre and furnishing industries. We want to support your input into the review of the ANZSCO so that it accurately reflects your workforce and enables solutions to workforce challenges.
Thank you to everyone who has engaged with us throughout the review process to date. Your contributions have helped inform three detailed and high quality submissions to the ANZSCO review to date.
Throughout stages 1 to 3, the ABS has invited feedback on the classification of occupations by focus area.
During each round of consultations, Skills Insight has worked to support our stakeholders to provide input either directly through the ABS website or by contributing to a submission being prepared by Skills Insight. This has included work to help stakeholders understand the ANZSCO and how it impacts them.
It is important that the ANZSCO is accurate, so that it can be used to properly understand and support workforce needs. Occupations in the ANZSCO are included in the census to gather information about the workforce. This information is then used to inform decisions made by all levels of government in Australia, including about industry support, workforce strategies, tax breaks, apprenticeships and traineeships, skilled migration lists and more.
For the latest developments, visit the Updating ANZSCO section of the ABS website.
You are also welcome to subscribe to Skills Insight’s newsletter, for updates on our submission to the ANZSCO review. Please select ‘General News’ as one of your subscriptions.
Preliminary Proposed Changes Published
The ABS has published details of the preliminary proposed changes for rounds 1 to 3 of consultation.
The ABS has created a document for each of the 43 focus areas, outlining the proposed changes. You can view the documents for each round on the ABS Consultation Hub, under the updated results section for Consultation Round 1, Consultation Round 2 and Consultation Round 3.
Fourth Consultation Round Open
The fourth and final round of consultation for the review is open from 25 July to 6 September 2024. This will allow stakeholders an opportunity to provide feedback on the complete set of proposed changes to the classification structure, before it is finalised for release in December 2024. The newly proposed structure includes existing occupation groups that have been reorganised or consolidated, new groups for emerging occupations, and adapted structures to better reflect the relationships between occupations.
Skills Insight is reviewing the preliminary proposed changes and will continue to engage with stakeholders and the ABS to prepare a submission to Round 4 consultations. We welcome input from anyone interested in contributing.
View our online information session
Round 3 of the comprehensive ANZSCO review featured occupations across most of the industries Skills Insight works with, including agriculture, horticulture, forestry, fishing, aquaculture, meat processing, racing and breeding, animal care and management, furnishing, textiles, clothing and footwear.
To help our stakeholders have their say on this round, Skills Insight hosted an online information session with input from the ABS.
The session included information about the ANZSCO, how it relates to you and how to provide feedback. There was also a Q&A section for stakeholders to ask questions of both Skills Insight and the ABS.
Although the session focused on round 3 occupations, it provides key insights into how the ANZSCO works that may be useful for providing feedback in the future.
A note on ANZSCO
skill levels
Each occupation within ANZSCO is assigned a skill level, reflecting the range and complexity of the set of tasks undertaken in the occupation. Each skill level provides an indication of the formal education and training, experience in a related occupation, and on-the-job training required to competently perform the set of tasks required for that occupation. The image below was developed to outline the five broad skill levels used in ANZSCO. For more information see the ANZSCO website.
Skills Insight Submissions to Date
Skills Insight has made submissions to three rounds of ANZSCO review in 2023 in consultation with relevant stakeholders. Our submissions have been based on industry consultation and the way the qualifications framework interacts with ANZSCO classifications.
We are grateful to those who have contributed to survey submissions made by Skills Insight on behalf of the industries we service. Thank you for volunteering your time and expertise!
What is ANZSCO and why is it important?
The Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) is a method of classifying occupations within the Australian and New Zealand labour markets.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) assigns each occupation a title, description and skill level. These occupations are then included in the census to collect information about the workforce.
This information is then used by all levels of government in Australia to inform which job roles receive government support and the kind of support they need.
The data collected in the ANZSCO provides guidance for decision making related to:
