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October 2025 data was released on 5th November 2025.
What is NERO?
The Nowcast of Employment by Region and Occupation or NERO provides estimates of employment in 355 occupations across 88 regions in Australia. Previously this type of data was only readily available every five years as part of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census of Population and Housing. With NERO these insights are produced monthly.
NERO has been developed using an emerging methodology known as nowcasting, which combines traditional, real-time and big data techniques - including machine learning - to estimate employment trends shortly after data becomes available. This approach enables more frequent updates and greater detail than conventional methods.
NERO follows the occupation and region classifications of the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations’ (ANZSCO) 4-digit level and the Australian Statistical Geography Standard’s Statistical Area 4 (SA4) regions.
What can NERO be used for?
NERO is a valuable tool for understanding occupational distribution and trends for workforce planning. It can help answer questions such as:
- Which regions of Australia employ the most Electricians?
- Which regions of Australia have experienced the strongest growth of employment of Registered Nurses over the past year, or the past five years?
- For the Ballarat region (or any other region), which are the largest employing occupations, and which are the strongest growing occupations over the past year, or the past five years?
Understanding changes in occupation composition over time helps users unpack local labour markets dynamics. For example, tracking the growing employment numbers for Professional occupations in a region can show in detail the advancing role of the knowledge economy. Whether a regional economy thrives on primary industry, tourism or high-tech manufacturing, NERO can help gauge changing economies at very detailed levels.
Dashboard
The NERO dashboard provides an interactive way to explore employment estimates by occupation and region. Users can view annual and five-year changes, examine national employment levels at the ANZSCO 4-digit and SA4 regional levels, and use a map view for spatial insights. It also includes filters to customise regions and occupations, with options to download tailored datasets for deeper analysis.
Methodology
The approach to nowcasting employment draws on the framework outlined in the journal article Nowcasting the Australian Labour Market at Disaggregated Levels. This methodology combines traditional labour market data with real-time and big data sources, applying advanced machine learning techniques to produce timely, detailed estimates of employment by occupation and region. By integrating diverse datasets and refining models through stacked approaches, NERO delivers granular insights while maintaining alignment with ABS Labour Force Survey benchmarks.
Downloads
Nowcast of Employment by Region and Occupation, ANZSCO 4 Digit Occupations and SA4 Regions - October 2025
2025-10_nero.zip44883774
DownloadFuture release dates
Data will be updated monthly with planned release dates:
| Data period | Expected release date |
|---|---|
| November 2025 | 3 December 2025 |
| December 2025 | 7 January 2026 |
| January 2026 | 4 February 2026 |
| February 2026 | 4 March 2026 |
Caveats
NERO estimates employment based on what it has “learned” from historical data. If changes to regional employment patterns exist outside of the historical dataset, NERO may not capture this effect.
NERO estimates are smoothed to highlight long-term trends in local labour markets. Due to this smoothing process, the estimates may not reflect short-term fluctuations or rapid changes in labour market conditions. When interpreting NERO data, the scale and direction of change over time is more informative than the precise values.
For users who need high-level insights, sources like the ABS Labour Force Survey and Census may be more appropriate. JSA therefore recommends using NERO alongside other datasets to analyse current labour market trends, including the Internet Vacancy Index (IVI), the Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey (REOS), and ABS labour statistics.
NERO is designed specifically for estimating employment numbers at the ANZSCO 4-digit and ASGS SA4 level. Estimates should not be summed or combined to generate aggregated results across geographies or occupation groups, as this may lead to inaccurate or misleading estimates.
Feedback
NERO is an ongoing project that seeks to continuously improve the estimation of employment by region and occupation. To facilitate ongoing improvement, feedback and enquiries are welcome1.
Licence
NERO is a product of Jobs and Skills Australia, within the Commonwealth of Australia. With the exception of the Commonwealth Coat of Arms, Jobs and Skills Australia's logo, any images or photographs, any material protected by a trademark and where otherwise noted, the content of NERO is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence, CC BY 4.0 licence. Please note that this CC BY licence includes a disclaimer of warranties and liabilities in favour of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Jobs and Skills Australia used data records provided by the parties listed on the Nowcasting Methodology page in the preparation of NERO.
Use of, including to copy, redistribute, remix, transform, or build upon, all or any part of NERO must include the following attribution: Nowcast of Employment by Region and Occupation, Jobs and Skills Australia, Commonwealth of Australia. Used under Creative Commons BY 4.0 licence.
Footnotes
If you give feedback about NERO, you give without charge, the right to use, share and commercialise your feedback, in any way and for any purpose (and including the right to allow others to do this). You agree not to give feedback that requires us to license NERO, or any other product or document, to third parties because we include your feedback in them. These rights are perpetual. A copy of the Privacy Policy can be obtained by emailing Privacy@jobsandskills.gov.au.