Source

ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.

Caveats

The 2021 Census was taken at a time when many parts of Australia were under COVID-19 restrictions. Occupations were unevenly impacted by restrictions on face-to-face interactions and travel.
Results may differ from standard ABS Census occupation outputs due to experimental coding to OSCA.
Occupation and industry data refer to a person’s main job in the week prior to the Census, reflecting their employment at that point in time.
The ABS perturbs data to protect individual privacy. For more information, see: https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/microdata-tablebuilder/tablebuilder/confidentiality-and-relative-standard-error
Suppression rules are applied based on occupation employment size, using pre-rounded employment values:
- Fewer than 50 employed persons are suppressed to protect confidentiality and prevent identification of individuals.
- 50–499 employed persons display total employment only; all other data are suppressed.
- 500–2,000 employed persons have datasets suppressed where they contain more than two variables.
- More than 2,000 employed persons display full profiles with no suppression.
Employment values are rounded after suppression rules are applied. Values below 1,000 are rounded to the nearest 10, and values of 1,000 or more are rounded to the nearest 100.
Approximately 8% of employed persons in the 2021 Census were classified as ‘Employed, away from work’. Unless otherwise stated, these people are included in all employment data presented.
Approximately 8% of employed persons in the 2021 Census were classified as ‘Employed, away from work’. Unless otherwise stated, these people are included in all employment data presented.
The sum of 6-digit employment may not equal the parent 4-digit total due to data perturbation and the exclusion of not further defined (nfd) occupations.
The sum of percentages may not equal 100% due to several factors, including: perturbation, rounding and the exclusion of specific responses from the denominator.
Non-zero proportions under 0.1% are reported as <0.1%.

Definitions

Employment in main job

This is the number of people employed in an occupation as their main job.

Employment status

Full-time share: This is the proportion of people employed in an occupation who work full-time (those who worked 35 hours or more during the week of the census) in their main job.
Part-time share: This is the proportion of people employed in an occupation who work part-time (those who worked less than 35 hours during the week of the census) in their main job.
Note: For the proportions of full-time and part-time workers, those who were classified as ‘Employed, away from work’ in the week prior to the Census (accounting for approx. 8% of total national employment), have been excluded from the denominator. These people were employed but did not work any hours due to temporary reasons such as leave or work disruption.
Some occupations show a higher rate of people classified as ‘Employed, away from work’. This reflects a combination of COVID-19 restrictions and structural work patterns in some occupations (for example, where shift work, or fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) arrangements mean more workers are likely to be away from work at any given time).
The downloadable data file includes a column highlighting occupations that recorded more than 10% of employment as away from work during the week of the Census.

Median age

This is the age right in the middle of all workers in an occupation, half are younger and half are older.

Employment by gender

This is the proportion of people in an occupation who are male and female.
Gender Segregation Intensity: This is determined using the proportion of males and females within an occupation.
- Gender balanced - Less than 60% of both genders
- Moderately female or male dominated - Between 60-75% of dominant gender
- Highly female or male dominated - Between 75-90% of dominant gender
- Almost completely female or male dominated - 90% and above of dominant gender
You can find more information about the Gender Segregation Intensity Scale in the JSA Gender Economic Equality Study.

Indigenous employment share

This is the proportion of people who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.

Main employing industry

This is the industry that the greatest proportion of people within this occupation are employed in.
Industries are presented at the ANZSIC Division (1-digit) level.

OSCA descriptions

ABS, 2024, OSCA - Occupation Standard Classification for Australia

https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/classifications/osca-occupation-standard-classification-australia/2024-version-1-0

OSCA Occupations

Youth Justice Worker

Youth Support Workers

Youth Worker

Zookeeper

Zoologist

Find out more