Occupation Shortage

In summary, Jobs and Skills Australia defines a shortage as an occupation where employers struggle to fill positions. 

More formally shortages exist when employers are unable to fill or have considerable difficulty filling vacancies for an occupation, or significant specialised skill needs within that occupation, at current levels of remuneration and conditions of employment and in reasonably accessible locations.

In principle, ratings are determined primarily by the vacancy fill rate. This is the number of filled vacancies divided by the number of vacancies. If a vacancy is below 67% (two-thirds) the occupation is considered to have a high chance of being in shortage. The reality is far more detailed and nuanced and combines multiple data sources including 2 surveys (Survey of Employers who have Recently Advertised – SERA, the Stakeholder Survey, a machine learning model and feedback from government agencies and Jobs and Skills Council). For more information, see the methodology paper. 

Jobseekers may find more vacancies within occupations that are in shortage. However, this does not necessarily mean securing a job is easier. For example, there may be specialisations which are not in shortage or the shortages may be geographically concentrated. 

If an occupation is in shortage, recruitment for those occupations may also be more difficult which may require thinking differently about the recruitment and/or the occupation.

While an occupation can be considered in shortage it is still possible that job seekers can face significant competition for positions (due to the level of experience or specialisations required). Similarly, employers can still have difficulty recruiting for occupations that are not in shortage.

The OSL informs policy makers and education and training developers about the skills needs of the Australian economy and may be used to inform a range of labour market advice Jobs and Skills Australia provides. The OSL is a publicly available tool.

The OSL Stakeholder Survey, which will be open again between November 2025 and March 2026, is targeted towards peak bodies, industry and business groups, professional organisations, unions, recruitment agencies, regional representative bodies and education and training providers or advisory organisations. We seek to gauge the issues and concerns employer members may be facing through their respective representative body. If you or other representative bodies would like to be included in this process, please let us know by emailing OccupationShortageList@jobsandskills.gov.au.

You are in the best position to help us understand the skills needs of the industry, occupation or region you represent.

We are primarily looking for information on the number of advertised vacancies, number of applicants and numbers of vacant positions filled. Where and why employers are having difficulty filling positions, including information on current and likely future demand, including current and future labour supply constraints. However, if there is something important that we need to know about an occupation when we undertake the consultation process, please tell us, including new sources of reliable labour market data that you may be aware of.

Jobs and Skills Australia complies with the Privacy Act 1988 and the Australian Privacy Principles contained in the Privacy Act 1988. Jobs and Skills Australia sits with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations. The department’s privacy page can be found at www.dewr.gov.au/using-site/privacy and includes key information regarding how we handle your personal information. If you have any questions about the confidentiality of your information and data collected in this process, please email at privacy@dewr.gov.au.

Your input is important to us. If you have any questions or feedback or would like to know more about the stakeholder survey and how you can get involved, email us at OccupationShortageList@jobsandskills.gov.au. 

Australian New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) is a hierarchical classification. For example, the ANZSCO code for the General Practitioner Occupation is 253111. The Unit group code is 2531 General Practitioners and Resident Medical Officers. The minor group is 253 Medical Practitioners; the sub-major group is 25 Health Professionals and the major group is 2 Professionals. As the number of digits increase, the occupation specificity increases. We report at the Occupation and Unit group levels for the OSL. Learn more about the conceptual basis of ANZSCO.

The 4 digit level (Unit group) OSL shortage ratings are aggregated from 6 digit level (Occupation) OSL results. The process is based on the proportion of people working in each Occupation that make up the Unit group (based on the 2021 Census). 

If an Occupation is in shortage, and it comprises a majority of total employment in its Unit group, then the Unit group will also be rated as in Shortage, and the same applies for other rating types (No Shortage, Regional shortage, Metropolitan Shortage).

Where an Occupation makes up a smaller proportion of total employment in its Unit group, it may have a different rating to the Unit group as a whole. 

This process is repeated for every Occupation at the national level and for each state and territory.

The OSD classifies unit groups in shortage into four main drivers based on the likeliest cause of shortage. 

The four categories are:

• Long Training Gap
• Short Training Gap
• Suitability Gap
• Retention Gap.

A fifth category ‘Uncertain’ is also included. 

Analysis of the shortage drivers of is undertaken at the unit group level. To do this, a unit group version of the Occupation Shortage List is first created.

For more information on the difference between unit groups and occupations, refer to What is the difference between 4 digit ANZSCO and 6 digit ANZSCO? and the ABS on the conceptual basis of ANZSCO.

The Short and Long Training Gap categories

These categories identify unit groups that may be in shortage due to a lack of qualified applicants. These shortages can be partially addressed by employers by increasing employee retention, but solutions will largely come from policy and educational providers. The Long Training Gap is for unit groups where there is a long lead time for qualification and training, whereas for Short Training gap, the lead time is much shorter. 

The Suitability Gap category

Even when an applicant possesses the requisite qualifications, an employer may still find them to be unsuitable for the job. They may still lack the skills or the experience that the employer has deemed necessary. 

The Retention Gap category

A retention gap occurs when there is a sufficient number of people with the requisite skills, qualifications, and experience to fill vacancies in each unit group, but workers for these unit groups may not remain in the role long due to current working conditions. 

For more detail, see the Occupation Shortage Drivers Report.