Job Outlook provides, for each occupation, data on employment characteristics, trends and prospects, links to vacancies on Australian JobSearch and education and training courses on myfuture, and information on knowledge, skills and abilities from the United States O*Net website. Graphs and tables are also presented for clusters of occupations. Selected occupation-specific links and reports are presented in Reports and Links.
Occupation and Industry Classification
The occupations in Job Outlook are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), developed jointly by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and Statistics New Zealand (SNZ). The 353 occupations in Job Outlook (titles unit groups in ANZSCO) are grouped into 48 clusters of occupations, to provide statistical comparisons for related occupations, and eight major groups:
- Managers
- Professionals
- Technicians and Trades Workers
- Community and Personal Service Workers
- Sales Workers
- Machinery Operators and Drivers
- Labourers
Industries in Job Outlook are based on the Australian and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC) 2006, developed by the ABS and SNZ.
Searching for Occupations
Alphabetical
Select from an alphabetical listing of occupations.
Keyword
Type into the keyword search field a word relating to the occupation you are interested in (for example, ‘mechanic’) and then select an occupation from the results of the search (such as ‘Motor Mechanic’).
Category
Select from the list of occupational clusters, then choose one of the occupations in that cluster.
Industry
Select an industry and you will be presented with a list of the main employing occupations in that industry. Further information on industry employment trends and prospects is available on skillsinfo.
Good Prospects
DEEWR rates prospects for occupations as good, average or below average - this list provides links to occupations assessed as having good prospects.
Skill Shortages
Skill shortage occupations are those on the Migration Occupations in Demand List (MODL), used by the Department of Immigration and Citizenship to target the skill stream of the Migration program. More information is available on the workplace website.
Career Quiz
This quiz will help you identify what types of work you most like doing. Each of the 15 questions lists six tasks that people do. Select the work you'd enjoy doing most, making sure to choose the task you prefer doing more than all the others in the group - no matter how qualified you are to do that job. Then select See result to view the occupations you are most likely to enjoy or be good at.
Data Sources
Most of the statistics in Job Outlook are based on the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) monthly labour force survey and supplementary surveys, and are subject to sampling variability. Relative standard errors (sampling errors relative to the size of the estimates) are very high for small occupations. Occupational and industry data are only available for the mid month of each quarter (February, May, August and November).
The data presented in Job Outlook are averages for all Australia, and may not represent the characteristics of occupations in particular regions. Projected employment growth for occupations will vary between regions, depending on regional economic growth and the regional industry base. Job prospects will vary between regions and individual workers, depending on the specialised skills and personal attributes being sought by employers.
Historical employment data for ANZSCO occupations have been developed by back-casting the employment figures using a concordance between the Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO 2nd edition) and ANZSCO based on dual coded estimates from the Labour Force Survey and Census 2006 data. Nevertheless there are discontinuities in the data for some occupations and this may affect employment growth. The time series data have been seasonally adjusted and trended within DEEWR.
Some numbers in Job Outlook have been rounded to whole numbers and apparent differences in figures may reflect this rounding. This may result in figures not appearing on graphs (rounded down to zero), yet the graph indicating a small positive figure.
Overview
Job descriptions, skill levels, tasks and job titles are based on the information contained in the ANZSCO publication, edited slightly in some instances. A list of associated occupations is also provided. The job titles include specific occupations, specialisations and alternative titles for the occupation.
Job prospects
Job prospects ratings for the medium term (to 2012-13) are provided for each occupation. Job prospects may vary over time and between different occupations due to several factors: projected and actual employment growth; whether occupations are in growth industries; unemployment; vacancy trends; whether there are skill shortages for the occupation; the number of people changing jobs but not changing occupations (job changing); and the number of workers leaving an occupation (job openings).
Job turnover (job changing and job openings) provides most job vacancies, and is typically higher in less skilled occupations. Even for occupations where employment is declining, job turnover provides opportunities for jobseekers.
Job prospects are rated as GOOD, AVERAGE or BELOW AVERAGE. These are indicative ratings and may vary from region to region, and also depend on the skills and personal attributes of individual workers. There may be good job prospects for some individuals, and in some regions, for occupations rated as having below average or limited prospects. Qualified workers in occupations with good prospects may have difficulty in finding employment because of the specialised skills, experience and personal attributes being sought by employers, or lower regional demand for the occupation.
Although care has been taken to produce these assessments, they must be used with caution. Individuals need to carefully assess their individual circumstances when considering the information. As noted, the prospects information is indicative and individual and regional job prospects may change rapidly and unexpectedly.
DEEWR prepares projections of employment growth for occupations, currently to the year 2012-13. These are based on several factors: occupational projections provided by the Centre of Policy Studies (CoPS) at Monash University (from the MONASH model); actual employment growth in recent years; industry employment growth and prospects; vacancy trends; industry surveys; and qualitative information on occupational developments from employers, recruitment agencies, employer organisations, education and training bodies and labour market intermediaries.
The annual growth cutoffs for the deciles, ranked from strongest to lowest growth, are shown below, together with the words used to describe future employment growth in Job Outlook.
Decile Descriptor Annual growth (% pa)
| Decile |
Descriptor |
Annual growth (% pa) |
| 10 |
Strong growth ++ |
3.2 or more |
| 9 |
Strong growth |
2.4 to 3.1 |
| 8 |
Moderate growth ++ |
2.0 to 2.3 |
| 7 |
Moderate growth |
1.4 to 1.9 |
| 6 |
Slight growth ++ |
1.0 to 1.3 |
| 5 |
Slight growth |
0.7 to 0.9 |
| 4 |
Remain steady |
-0.1 to 0.6 |
| 3 |
Fall slightly |
-0.8 to -0.2 |
| 2 |
Decline |
-1.4 to -0.9 |
| 1 |
Decline ++ |
-1.5 or lower |
Estimates of total vacancies and job openings are based on work undertaken for DEEWR by the Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) at Monash University. The figures include estimates for job openings - workers who leave an occupation - as well as total vacancies. The data on vacancies are estimates of vacancies filled by employers, based mainly on the ABS Labour Mobility survey for the year ended February 2004.
Vacancies are split into three main sources of vacancies: employment growth, job openings (workers leaving the occupation) and job changing (workers changing employers but not occupation). Job changing is derived by expressing future employment growth, job openings and total vacancies as a proportion of employment, and then subtracting future employment growth and job openings from total vacancies.
Job Outlook provides data on employment characteristics, trends and prospects for 353 occupations. For each occupation Job Outlook incorporates information from the United States O*Net website, including knowledge, skills and abilities, as well as links to vacancies on Australian JobSearch and education and training courses on the myfuture website.
Skills, Knowledge and Abilities
Skills provides data, sourced from the United States Occupational Information Network (O*Net), on skills, knowledge, abilities, interests, job environment, work values, activities and tasks for the best fit O*Net occupation.
Graph data
The data underpinning the graphs are drawn from the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Labour Force Survey in most instances. Other sources are ABS labour force supplementary surveys, such as Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Union Membership. Annual averages of the quarterly, or trend data, have been used to smooth the somewhat volatile data. The graphs cover the following occupational characteristics and trends:
Age
This graph displays age data for seven age groups (in years): 15 to 19, 20 to 24, 25 to 34, 35 to 44, 45 to 54, 55 to 64 years and 65 years and over. The graph shows the share of employment (per cent) by age group for this occupation, compared with all occupations. The graph also displays the median age for the occupation. The median age for all occupations is 39 years.
Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia - annual average.
Weekly hours worked
This graph displays the number of hours worked for this occupation (and compared to all occupations) for both full time and part time workers, by gender. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia - annual average.
Gender profile
The graph shows the share of employment (per cent) for males and females, employed full-time/part-time, for this occupation compared with all occupations. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia - annual average.
Employment growth by gender
The graph shows how full time and part time employment (displayed as ‘000s) has changed over the past five years for males and females (annual average data). Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia.
Main Employing Industries
This graph shows the four industries with the largest shares of employment, compared with the share for all occupations. Employment for some occupations is concentrated in just one or two industries. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia - annual average.
Regional
The graph shows the State share of employment (per cent) for this occupation, compared with all occupations. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia - annual average.
Earnings
This graph displays median weekly earnings, before tax is deducted, for full-time employees (that is, those working 35 hours per week or more). The median is the mid-point of the distribution. Half of the employees in the occupation earn less than the median weekly amount and half earn more. The median is used here as the average (mean) weekly earnings may be skewed upwards by a small number of people with very high weekly earnings.
The graph includes a comparison with earnings for the relevant major group
It is important to note that these figures can not be used in determining a particular wage rate or as an indication of what a particular person will earn in a particular job. The data are not specific enough to be used for this purpose. Source: ABS Employee Earnings, Benefits and Trade Unions Membership (cat. no. 6310.0), August.
Unemployment
The Key Indicators graph shows unemployment for this occupation (decile ranking) compared with unemployment for all occupations. The decile ranking is based on splitting the occupations into ten groups, ranked in order of unemployment - around 10 per cent (40) of the 400 occupations are in each decile.
It is important to note that the ABS calculates occupational unemployment differently than for the labour force as a whole. The ABS definition excludes job seekers who have not been employed for two weeks or more, full-time or part-time, in the past two years and first-time job seekers. A job seeker’s occupation is based on the occupation in their last full-time or part-time job. Occupational unemployment rates are lower than for the labour force overall. Estimates of unemployment for many occupations are small and subject to very high relative standard errors.
Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia - annual average.
Employment growth
The graph shows employment growth (per cent) over the past five years and two years for this occupation, compared with all occupations. Note that this is historical growth, not projected growth, and the data have been seasonally adjusted and trended by DEEWR to highlight the underlying trend (referred to as trend data). The high relative standard errors can result in volatile employment growth figures for some occupations, especially for small occupations.
Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia - five/two years - DEEWR trend data.
Employment level
The graph shows the historical employment level ('000) for this occupation for the latest quarter. Source: ABS Labour Force Survey, Australia - DEEWR trend data.
Key Indicators
The graph shows 12 key indicators for this occupation - employment size, full-time share of employment, earnings, unemployment, historical employment growth (long-term, medium term and short-term), future employment growth (to 2012-13), mix of industries, job openings, vacancy level and overall job prospects.
The graph presents the decile ranking for the occupation for each indicator - around 10 per cent (40) of the 400 occupations are in each decile. This makes it easier to compare occupational characteristics, trends and prospects across occupations. For example, if an occupation has a decile ranking of 10 for future employment growth, then it is in the top 10 per cent of occupations for future employment growth (that is, in the group of occupations with the strongest future employment growth prospects).
Sources of vacancies
The graph shows, for this occupation, a split of vacancies (share - per cent) into three main sources: new jobs (employment growth), job openings (workers leaving the occupation) and job changing (workers changing jobs but remaining in the same occupation).
Vacancies or job opportunities for an occupation come from three main sources: actual expansion of the number employed in an occupation (employment growth); workers leaving an occupation to work in another occupation or leaving the workforce altogether, thus creating vacancies that can be filled by somebody else (job openings); and workers moving between jobs, but remaining in the same occupation (job changing).
Job openings (turnover) provide most job opportunities and does not depend on the level of new demand for the occupation. People move in or out of the occupation for a variety of reasons and an occupation may be one which is an entry point to a related occupation, or a stepping stone in a career. For example, Sales Assistants have high job turnover.
Source: DEEWR projections of future employment growth and DEEWR consultancy with the Centre for the Economics of Education and Training (CEET) at Monash University (job openings).