Skills Priority List

Overview

The Skills Priority List (SPL) is a major deliverable for the National Skills Commission (NSC), which has the responsibility for providing trusted and independent intelligence on Australia’s labour market. The SPL provides a detailed view of shortages as well as the future demand for occupations across Australia. This list provides the backbone for labour market analysis on occupations that will be a key input to a range of Australian Government policy initiatives, including targeting of skilled migration.

SPL Categories

Taking account of all available information, a current labour market rating is determined for each occupation. Ratings are provided nationally, as well as for each state and territory. Where there is evidence suggesting variation between metropolitan and regional locations this is reflected in the rating.

Additionally, each occupation is given an indicative future demand rating (strong, moderate or soft) to indicate the likely demand for the occupation over the coming 5-year period using a proportional approach. Each occupation assessed is categorised into one of six categories:

Where shortages are restricted to regional areas (Regional Shortage), this is shown as (R) against the occupation, and where shortages are restricted to metropolitan areas (Metropolitan Shortage), this is shown as (M) against the occupation. The term metropolitan area refers to state and territory capital cities and regional refers to the rest of the state or territory. A selective list of occupations is given below.

Appendix: Occupation Ratings

Ratings are provided nationally, and for each state and territory, where sufficient evidence is available. 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 possible that job seekers may face 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 (S)

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

Metropolitan Shortage (M)

Shortages, (as defined above) are restricted to metropolitan areas.

Regional Shortage (R)

Shortages (as defined above) are restricted to regional areas.

No Shortage (NS)

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’.

Occupations in national shortage, with strong future demand

Occupations in national shortage, with moderate future demand

Occupations in national shortage, with soft future demand

Occupations not in national shortage, with strong future demand

Occupations not in national shortage, with moderate future demand

Occupations not in national shortage, with soft future demand

Amitava Deb

• Amitava is a gold medallist from India’s premier technical institute, IIT Kharagpur.
• He has worked with some of the world’s top companies such as Sony Australia Pty. Ltd., Siemens AG Germany, Clarity International Ltd., Reliance Communications and Optus Sydney.
• Amitava is a Chartered Professional Engineer accredited by Engineers Australia. He is a full member of this esteemed association.
• He is a member of the Australian Computer Society, Tele Management Forum and Worldwide Institute of Software Architects.
• Amitava is a well-recognised name in the ICT Professional Community in Australia.