Skills Shortages Analysis

Taking account of all available information a labour market rating is determined for each occupation.

Ratings are provided nationally and for each state and territory. Where there is evidence suggesting occupations in shortage are confined to regional locations this is reflected in the rating. The term regional refers to areas outside of state and territory capital cities.

An occupation may be assessed as being in shortage even though not all specialisations are in shortage. Similarly, a rating of national shortage does not mean that employers in every geographical location have difficulty recruiting.

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 SPL provides the following ratings of the current labour market for occupations where sufficient data are available to make an assessment.

Shortage

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 some instances shortages may be apparent in particular specialisations within the occupation but otherwise shortages are not apparent. In these instances, provided there is sufficient evidence, that occupation will still be considered in shortage.

Regional Shortage

Shortages are restricted to regional areas.

No Shortage

Research has not identified any significant difficulty filling vacancies. For some occupations a lack of evidence overall will by default result in an occupation being rated as No Shortage.

The SPL is designed to help policy makers and education and training developers understand 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 SPL is a publicly available tool.

The 2023 SPL is aligned to the new ANZSCO 2022 classification and includes ratings for 916 occupations, compared to 914 occupations for the SPL 2022 which was aligned to the ANZSCO 2021 classification. The 2021 SPL included ratings for 799 occupations in the ANZSCO 2013, Version 1.3. Therefore some occupations on the 2023 and 2022 SPL will not appear on the 2021 SPL.

In addition to the SPL stakeholder survey we are happy to engage with various stakeholders on an ongoing basis. Please email us at SkillsPriorityList@jobsandskills.gov.au to request a meeting.

The SPL stakeholder survey is targeted towards peak bodies, industry and business groups, professional organisations, unions, regional representative bodies and education and training advisory organisations. We are seeking 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 SkillsPriorityList@jobsandskills.gov.au.

Please note the SPL stakeholder survey for 2024 is now closed.

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 labour supply constraints and demand for occupations are also very helpful. However, if there is something important that we need to know about an occupation when we undertake the consultation process, please tell us, including on new sources of reliable labour market data that you may be aware of.

Jobs and Skills Australia complies with all relevant provisions of 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.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) classifies occupations through the Australian New Zealand Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) hierarchical classification system. 

ANZSCO is a skill-based classification used to classify all occupations and jobs in the Australian and New Zealand labour markets. 

ANZSCO classifies occupations according to their attributes and groups them on the basis of their similarity into 8 major groups (1 digit ANZSCO or ANZSCO1), which are then disaggregated into sub-major groups (2 digit ANZSCO), minor groups (3 digit ANZSCO), unit groups (4 digit ANZSCO), and occupations (6 digit ANZSCO). 

More detailed information about ANZSCO can be found on the ABS website Conceptual basis of ANZSCO.

You can explore the SPL at either the Unit Group level (4 digit)or the Occupations level (6 digit). The official SPL shortage ratings are at the Occupation level.

The 4 digit level is useful for research and policy analysis when other data and evidence are often available at 4 digit level too.

The 6 digit level provides information about the likely shortage status of a specific occupation. 

Due to data limitations, the data on Skills Shortage Drivers is only available at the 4 digit level.

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

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 state and territory and at the national level.

Skill Shortage Drivers (SSD) is experimental and has been designed to help you identify the potential causes or drivers of occupations rated ‘in shortage’ in the Skills Priority List. 

The SSD classifies skills shortages 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 ‘Yet to be Determined’ is also included. 

The two ‘Training Gap’ categories

Occupations 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 ‘Suitability Gap’ category

Even if an applicant possesses the requisite qualifications, an employer may still deem 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 occupation, but they are unwilling to accept offers from employers under the current conditions.

For more detail, see theSkills Shortage Drivers - A companion paper - March 2024.PDF