Atlas data updates

Atlas showcases research and survey data from different sources. Each of them with a particular update timing. For that, Atlas is updated once a month, usually the last week of every month, as we wait for the updates of original data sources to be released.

For instance, Labour Force data might be released in the middle of the month. However, the Occupations and Industry profiles data gets released one or two weeks after the Labour Force data is available. Therefore, Atlas is updated at the end of each month when all the datasets are available. The latest update date is displayed in the bottom right corner of the screen, so users can know what latest data is being presented.

Please note, we might experience a week delay with our update if there are delays with the release of our data sources. Some of our data sources and their release frequency, include:

Labour Force Survey from ABS (monthly and quarterly updates)
Occupation and industry profiles from JSA (quarterly updates)
Internet Vacancy Index from JSA (monthly updates)
Job vacancies by Industry from ABS (annual updates)
Nowcast of Employment by Region and Occupation from JSA (monthly updates)
Census data from ABS
Vocational and Training data from NCVER (quarterly or annual updates)
Higher Education data from DoE (annual updates)
Businesses data from ABR (monthly updates)
Other survey and research data (e.g. shortage ratings, occupational mobility, among others)

Regional data

Regional data in Atlas corresponds to Statistical Area Level 4 regions (SA4) as defined by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) under the Australian Statistical Geography Standard (ASGS). SA4 regions represent labour markets within states and territories with population numbers of at least 100,000 people.

SA4s are designed for data collection and analysis, in particular for Labour Force Survey data. Given the amount of data available for SA4s and its reliability, SA4s were identified as the most suitable regional disaggregation for Atlas. There are 88 SA4 regions. Regions classified under “901 - Other territories” generally do not have data available, therefore, are not included in Atlas. “Other territories” include:

90101 Christmas Island
90102 Cocos (Keeling) Islands
90103 Jervis Bay
90104 Norfolk Island

Labour Force Survey (LFS) - ABS

The Labour Force Survey (LFS) statistics by the ABS are based on a multi-stage area sample of 24,000 private dwellings, resulting in a total sample of about 50,000 people.

The Jobs and Skills Atlas contains state/territory and national labour market indicators from the LFS. These figures are seasonally adjusted, except for the employment to population ratio for persons aged 15-64 by state/territory, which are three-month averages of original estimates, and the youth unemployment rate, which are twelve-month averages of original estimates. More information on this release, including explanatory material can be found at: Labour Force, Australia | Australian Bureau of Statistics (abs.gov.au).

While averaging data reduces the level of statistical variability and increases the quality of the estimate, it introduces some lag. It is important to note that data averaged over 3, 6 or 12 months will lag actual labour market developments, particularly during periods of significant change (such as during the COVID-19 related lockdowns).

Unless specifically indicated, all data points, calculated metrics, and percentages, are determined using unrounded values with rounding applied before display.

LFS - SA4 regions

LFS statistics are based on the place of usual residence of the people being surveyed and as such the figures show the labour force characteristics for people living in each SA4. It is important to bear in mind that this may not be the same location as someone’s place of work, particularly for SA4s in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

While the LFS includes regional data in its output, it is designed primarily to produce statistics at the state/territory level and above.

Regional LFS data has relatively small sample sizes and the sample is not designed to produce estimates of a consistent quality for all regions. Regional LFS figures can be subject to considerable sampling and other statistical variability, which can vary by region. The level of variability can be very high for SA4 data disaggregated by age or sex.

The ABS has recently introduced new modelled regional estimates, albeit not currently disaggregated by age and sex. The Atlas uses direct survey regional estimates for population (15+), employment to population ratio (15-64), Youth unemployment rate (15-24), as well as data about age and sex at the SA4 level. Employment, Unemployment rate, and Participation rate come from modelled estimates.

Regional data presented in the Jobs and Skills Atlas are original estimates that have been averaged over 6 or 12 months for SA4 regions, depending on their level of disaggregation. The only exception to this is 15+ employment, unemployment rate and participation rates for the Australian Capital Territory (which are monthly, seasonally adjusted data).

As ABS SA4 data are not adjusted for seasonal variations (other than the exceptions noted above), it is preferable to make year-on-year comparisons within the same time series, as movements between different months of the year may be influenced by seasonal factors.

Youth unemployment rates at the SA4 level can be based on extremely small sample sizes and, as a result, are subject to very high levels of volatility. Given this, youth unemployment rates (and their movements) at the SA4 level may not reflect actual youth labour market conditions and should be interpreted with a high degree of caution.

Further information on ABS LFS data

The ABS provides substantial guidance on LFS data and on using regional estimates from the LFS. JSA recommends that users of these data familiarise themselves with the advice, linked below.

Labour market breakdown of Sex

Data values for sex are derived from the LFS, with monthly updates. National population data for males and females are 3-month averages of original estimates. State, territory and regional (SA4) population data for males and females are 12-month averages of original estimates.

Labour market breakdown of Age

Data are derived from the LFS, with monthly updates and smoothing of 12-month averages of original estimates. Data are shown for the age groups of:

15-24 (as for the youth unemployment rate);
25-54; and
55 and over (except for the employment to population ratio, which uses 55-64).

Labour market breakdown of Education

The LFS does not cover education data. For that reason, Atlas uses Census 2021 data about the level of Highest Educational Attainment of people aged 15-64 years who were not attending primary or secondary school at the time of the survey.

Labour market breakdown of Indigenous

The LFS does not cover Indigenous status data. For that reason, Atlas uses Census 2021 records of persons who identified themselves as being of Australian Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander origin.

Jobs and Skills Australia Trended Industry and Occupation Employment Data

Jobs and Skills Australia trends data from the detailed LFS to create an estimation of employment over time across all Industries (down to ANZSIC 3-Digit level) and Occupations (down to ANZSCO 4-Digit level) nationally and by state. The trending methodology used by JSA applies significant smoothing, meaning it serves as a better reflection of longer-term trends within an occupation or industry.

>Data is released quarterly (Feb, May, Aug, Nov) as per the release of the Detailed LFS data.

More information on JSA’s occupation and industry trended data can be found in the Occupation and Industry Profiles pages in our website.

Please note that this trend series differs from the 1-Digit ANZSIC trend series released by the ABS in Table 4 of the detailed LFS. While state/territory and national data are based on the trend series produced by JSA, the regional data is a 4-quarter average of LFS original data. As a result, care should be taken when making any comparisons between them.

For certain industries, values over the COVID period (March 2020 to November 2021) are not included and care should be taken when referring to any figure from this period. Figures may also be subject to historical revisions in the future.

Nowcast of Employment by Region and Occupation (NERO)

NERO provides monthly estimates of occupational employment by region, previously only available every five years from the ABS Census of Population and Housing. As an experimental series, NERO estimates have been smoothed to provide an indication of long-term trends in local labour markets.

NERO data is modelled to represent the 15th day of each month.

Jobs and Skills Australia encourages the use of a combination of data sources alongside NERO such as:

Jobs and Skill Australia Internet Vacancy Index
Jobs and Skills Australia Recruitment Experiences and Outlook Survey
updated information at ABS Weekly Payroll Jobs
current content - Labour Force Survey, to analyse current labour market trends.

For more caveat information, please see the NERO Dashboard.

Internet Vacancy Index (IVI)

The Internet Vacancy Index (IVI) is an indicator for labour demand by counting newly lodged job advertisements on the SEEK, CareerOne and Australian JobSearch online jobs boards during the reference month.

There are some important conceptual limitations to consider when interpreting the data. IVI does not:

reflect the total number of job advertisements in the Australian labour market
account for jobs advertised through other online job boards, employer websites, social media, newspapers, or other informal methods such as word-of-mouth
take account of multiple positions being advertised in a single new job advertisement.

Job vacancies and job advertisements are different. Some employment opportunities are not advertised by employers, who may instead fill their vacancies via internal promotion or alternative recruitment methods.

Online job advertisements can be slightly biased towards higher skilled positions. Employers with lower skilled vacancies tend to use informal recruitment methods like social media or word-of-mouth more regularly.

Estimated vacancies disaggregated by ANZSCO-4 occupation and region can exhibit considerable volatility and are prone to significant seasonal patterns.

Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) has applied a 6-month moving average for SA4 and occupation. At the state/territory and national levels, data is seasonally adjusted.

Please note IVI data presented at the SA4 level are an experimental series that has been created by corresponding data from the 37 IVI regions across the 88 ABS SA4s. These estimates are subject to a degree of estimation error.

Unless specifically indicated, all data points, calculated metrics and percentages are determined using unrounded values with rounding applied before display.

Comparing Internet Vacancy Index (IVI) with NERO employment data

Misalignments between IVI and NERO vacancies can occur by SA4 as IVI data occupation vacancies are based on 'place of work' whereas NERO data for employment is based on 'place of usual residence'. This misalignment is particularly relevant in the case of SA4 regions for Capital Cities. Accordingly, vacancies and employment by occupation are not strictly comparable.

Occupation Shortage List (OSL)

The Occupation Shortage List (OSL), formerly known as the Skill Priority List (SPL), provides a current rating of occupations in shortage in Australia and in each state and territory. In the Atlas, when an SA4 is selected, the OSL rating for the corresponding state or territory is presented.

The ratings provide information about shortage based on evidence from data modelling, statistical analysis of the labour market, stakeholder consultation, employer surveys, and additional engagements with various stakeholder groups.

For some occupations, a lack of evidence will, by default, result in an occupation being rated as ‘No Shortage’.

An occupation may be assessed as being in shortage even though not all specialisations are in shortage. 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. Employers can continue to have difficulty recruiting for occupations that are not in shortage.

Unless specifically indicated, all data points, calculated metrics, and percentages, are determined using unrounded values with rounding applied before display.

Higher education data – Department of Education

The Department of Education releases the consolidated data of the previous calendar year in October each year. We aim to get access to that update as early as possible, but users can expect to have the latest data in Atlas from November each year.

Vocational Education and Training (VET) – NCVER, VOCSTATS

VET data is collected by registered training organisations and state training authorities around Australia. The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) publishes the data, but it is not responsible for its correct extraction, analysis or interpretation.

NCVER provides several tools for the extraction of the data. Currently, for Atlas, we use VOCSTATS as it allows users direct access to their databases.

Enrolments data is extracted from the Total VET students and courses (TVA) database. Records are available based on calendar year. Latest data (previous calendar year) are usually released around June each year.

Apprentices and trainees data is extracted from the Apprentices and trainees database, which has quarterly releases of data.

Currently, Atlas only presents completions data as a measure to prevent users from comparing enrolments and completions numbers for a given year. Those should not be directly compared to each other as they do not represent the same cohort of students. Students completing their courses belong to an earlier group of students. They are not the same as the ones just starting their qualification in the reference year. Therefore, the usefulness of comparing enrolments to completions is limited and prevents calculations, such as a Rate of Completion.

VET National Data Asset (VNDA)

VNDA insights are available at a national level for the top 500 courses by completion rate in the 2019-2020 financial year, with outcomes reported in the 2020-2021 financial year. As only the top 500 courses are covered in VNDA, many qualifications listed within the Training tab, will not have a National Outcomes Indicators component.

The Atlas shows latest VET activity as reported by NCVER. The top 500 qualifications from VNDA have been linked to most recent NCVER data through the national register of VET and ‘Training.gov’ (also known as TGA).

When a current qualification from NCVER is not available in VNDA but has a supersession relationship (identified through TGA) with a VNDA qualification, a list of the related qualifications is provided.

Cohorts data

Atlas reports some data based on sex or gender, age, education, and Indigenous status, when available and approved, and as presented by the original data sources. We recommend going to the original sources to understand the scope, purpose, and methodology of the cohorts’ data collection.

Cohorts data are not presented at the regional level for the Industries and Occupations tabs because these come from survey data, once disaggregated by industry or occupation at a regional level, the number of respondents can be low and therefore, to prevent the risk of disclosure of individuals, demographic information needs to be suppressed.

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