ANZSCO 2331

Chemical and Materials Engineers

Overview

EMPLOYED

6,700

PART-TIME SHARE

12%

FEMALE SHARE

37%

MEDIAN WEEKLY EARNINGS

$2,849

MEDIAN AGE

ANNUAL EMPLOYMENT GROWTH

About this data

Summary

Chemical and Materials Engineers design and prepare specifications for chemical process systems and the construction and operation of commercial-scale chemical plants, supervise industrial processing and fabrication of products undergoing physical and chemical change, and investigate the properties of metals, ceramics, polymers and other materials and assess and develop their engineering and commercial applications.

Tasks

Preparing designs for chemical process systems and planning control systems for processes such as those used to remove and separate components, effect chemical changes, test and evaluate fuels, transfer heat, and control the storing and handling of solids,liquids and gases
Monitoring the operation and maintenance of equipment to achieve maximum efficiency under safe operating conditions
Ensuring correct materials and equipment are used and that they conform to specifications
Diagnosing malfunctions in chemical plants and instituting remedial action
Studying product utilisation and pollution control problems
Reviewing plans for new products and submitting material selection recommendations in accordance with design specifications and factors such as strength, weight and cost
Planning and implementing laboratory operations to develop new materials and fabrication procedures for new materials to fulfil production cost and performance standards
Conferring with producers of materials, such as metals, ceramics, polymers, cements and elastomers, during the investigation and evaluation of materials suitable for specific product applications
Reviewing product failure data and implementing laboratory tests to establish or reject possible causes, and advising on ways to overcome any problems

ANZSCO Classification

Chemical and Materials Engineers (2331)

Details

Earnings and Hours

Weekly Earnings (Before Tax)

Important note: These data (on an ANZSCO basis) will not be updated again. The ANZSCO‑based occupation pages and download file will remain available but will no longer receive updates.
JSA will release new OSCA‑based occupation profiles in mid‑2026.

Source: Share of workers who work full-time hours: ABS, Labour Force Survey, 2025, four-quarter average, customised report.
Average full-time hours worked per week: ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on place of usual residence.
Median full-time earnings per week and Median hourly earnings: ABS, Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Note: median earnings data have not been produced for some occupations where there is a high standard error, and are published with "N/A" values.
Earnings and Hours	Chemical and Materials Engineers	All Occupations
Share of workers who work full-time hours	88%	69%
Average full-time hours worked per week	42 hours	44 hours
Median full-time earnings per week	$2,849	$1,852
Median hourly earnings	$75	$47

Industries

Chemical and Materials Engineers work in industries like:

Important note: These data (on an ANZSCO basis) will not be updated again. The ANZSCO‑based occupation pages and download file will remain available but will no longer receive updates.
JSA will release new OSCA‑based occupation profiles in mid‑2026.

Source: Ranked using ABS, Labour Force Survey, 2025, four-quarter average data, custom report.
Note: industries that comprise less than 5% of an occupation have been suppressed.

States and territories

New South Wales

25.1%

Victoria

16.7%

Queensland

24.0%

South Australia

4.9%

Western Australia

23.3%

Tasmania

1.7%

Northern Territory

1.7%

Australian Capital Territory

2.6%

Important note: These data (on an ANZSCO basis) will not be updated again. The ANZSCO‑based occupation pages and download file will remain available but will no longer receive updates.
JSA will release new OSCA‑based occupation profiles in mid‑2026.

Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Detailed, February 2026, Jobs and Skills Australia trend data.

Age and gender

Age and Gender Profile

Important note: These data (on an ANZSCO basis) will not be updated again. The ANZSCO‑based occupation pages and download file will remain available but will no longer receive updates.
JSA will release new OSCA‑based occupation profiles in mid‑2026.

Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, 2025, four-quarter average, customised report.
Age and Gender	Chemical and Materials Engineers	All Occupations
Median age	34 years	39 years
Female share of employment	37%	48%

Important note: These data (on an ANZSCO basis) will not be updated again. The ANZSCO‑based occupation pages and download file will remain available but will no longer receive updates.
JSA will release new OSCA‑based occupation profiles in mid‑2026.

Source: ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on place of usual residence.
Age Profile (% Share)	All Occupations	Chemical and Materials Engineers
15–19	5.2	0.1
20–24	9.1	7.2
25–34	22.7	32.7
35–44	22.3	24.8
45–54	20.4	18.6
55–59	8.8	7.6
60–64	6.5	4.3
65 and Over	4.9	5.0

Education

Registration may be required in some states and territories. In addition, Engineers Australia has a non-compulsory National Engineering Register.

Visit

Course Seeker to search and compare higher education courses.
ComparED to compare undergraduate and postgraduate student experiences and outcomes.

Important note: These data (on an ANZSCO basis) will not be updated again. The ANZSCO‑based occupation pages and download file will remain available but will no longer receive updates.
JSA will release new OSCA‑based occupation profiles in mid‑2026.

Source: ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on place of usual residence.
Highest Level of Educational Attainment (% Share)	All Occupations	Chemical and Materials Engineers
Post Graduate/Graduate Diploma or Graduate Certificate	12.2	32.2
Bachelor degree	23.2	59.2
Advanced Diploma/Diploma	11.1	2.5
Certificate III/IV	19.5	2.0
Year 12	15.9	2.5
Year 11	4.0	0.1
Year 10 and below	9.7	0.3

Occupation profiles data

This file contains data displayed on the Occupation Profile pages.

Use of data in this file must include the relevant attribution text provided.

Occupation profiles data - February 2026.xlsx

Occupation profiles data - February 2026.xlsx942127

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Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations

Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) is the skill-based classification system used to categorise occupations in the Australian and New Zealand labour markets. ANZSCO provides a basis for the standardised collection, analysis and dissemination of occupation data. Visit the ABS website to learn how ANZSCO works. Jobs and Skills Australia displays data for occupations that are defined by ANZSCO 2013 Version 1.3.

Occupation data

Important note

These data (on an ANZSCO basis) will not be updated again. The ANZSCO‑based occupation pages and download file will remain available but will no longer receive updates.

The ABS has temporarily suspend publishing Labour Force Survey occupation data while they make changes to the way they conduct the survey.

When they recommence publishing occupation data it will be based on the new Occupation Standard Classification of Australia (OSCA) basis.

JSA will release new OSCA‑based occupation profiles in mid‑2026. For more detail on this modernisation program see ABS LFS modernisation:
https://www.abs.gov.au/about/key-priorities/data-acquisition-modernisation-program/modernising-labour-force-survey

Employed

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

Sources:

ANZSCO 4-digit occupations: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, February 2026, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.
ANZSCO 6-digit occupations: ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on place of usual residence.
Data for Senior Non-Commissioned Defence Force Officers (1392) and Defence Force Members - Other Ranks (4411): ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on place of usual residence.

Please note ANZSCO 6-digit figures do not sum to match the total for their 4-digit parent as the figures come from different sources.

Part–time share

This is the proportion of people employed in an occupation who work part-time (those who usually work less than 35 hours a week) in all their jobs combined.

Sources:

ANZSCO 4–digit occupations: ABS, Labour Force Survey, 2025, four-quarter average data, customised report.
ANZSCO 6-digit occupations: ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on place of usual residence. Note: those who were classified as 'Employed, away from work' at the time of the 2021 Census (accounting for approx. 8% of total employment), have been excluded from the denominator.
Data for Senior Non-Commissioned Defence Force Officers (1392) and Defence Force Members - Other Ranks (4411): ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on place of usual residence.

Please note data for some ANZSCO 4-digit occupations has been suppressed due to inherent volatility associated with small Labour Force Survey estimates.

Please note data for ANZSCO 6-digit occupations with less than 50 people employed have been suppressed to protect confidentiality and prevent identification of individuals.

Female share

This is the proportion of people employed in an occupation who are female.

Sources:

ANZSCO 4–digit occupations: ABS, Labour Force Survey, 2025, four-quarter average data, customised report.
ANZSCO 6-digit occupations: ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on place of usual residence.
Data for Senior Non-Commissioned Defence Force Officers (1392) and Defence Force Members - Other Ranks (4411): ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on place of usual residence.

Please note data for some ANZSCO 4-digit occupations has been suppressed due to inherent volatility associated with small Labour Force Survey estimates.

Please note data for ANZSCO 6-digit occupations with less than 50 people employed have been suppressed to protect confidentiality and prevent identification of individuals.

Median weekly earnings

Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.

This is the median pay for full–time non–managerial employees paid at the adult rate before tax and salary sacrificed amounts. The full–time non–managerial employees paid at the adult rate population has been used because it excludes people paid unusually high or low amounts (for example managers, part–time employees and youths). This allows for more accurate comparison between occupations. These figures are a guide only and should not be used to determine a wage rate as they do not take into account years of experience or other factors may influence a person’s wage.

Please note median weekly earnings figures are not produced for the following occupations:

ANZSCO 6–digit occupations.
Senior Non-Commissioned Defence Force Officers (1392) and Defence Force Members - Other Ranks (4411).
ANZSCO 4–digit occupations where there is a relative standard error of 25% or higher.

Median age

This is the median age of all workers in an occupation.

Sources:

ANZSCO 4–digit occupations: ABS, Labour Force Survey, 2025, four-quarter average data, customised report.
ANZSCO 6-digit occupations: ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on place of usual residence.
Data for Senior Non-Commissioned Defence Force Officers (1392) and Defence Force Members - Other Ranks (4411): ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on place of usual residence.

Please note data for ANZSCO 6-digit occupations with less than 50 people employed have been suppressed to protect confidentiality and prevent identification of individuals.

Annual employment growth

This is the change in total employment over the past year.

Source: ABS, Labour Force Survey, Detailed, February 2026, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) trend data.

Please note annual employment growth figures are not produced for the following occupations:

ANZSCO 6–digit occupations.
Senior Non-Commissioned Defence Force Officers (1392) and Defence Force Members - Other Ranks (4411).

Why aren’t OSCA data being used?

As our occupation profiles are based on the ABS Labour Force Survey and Census data, we are reliant on the ABS releasing these coded to OSCA. It is our understanding that ABS will commence using the OSCA classification for Labour Force Survey data in 2026.

Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA)

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Chemical and Materials Engineers

Overview

Summary

Tasks

ANZSCO Classification

Details

On this page

Earnings and Hours

Industries

States and territories

Age and gender

Education

On this page

Occupation profiles data

Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations

Occupation data

Important note

Employed

Part–time share

Female share

Median weekly earnings

Median age

Annual employment growth

Why aren’t OSCA data being used?