Australia and New Zealand to introduce separate list for job classifications of foreign workers

The National Occupation List is an independent New Zealand-focused occupation classification.

October 18, 2024 11:11 IST

ANZSCO occupation list, job classifications, foreign workers, Occupation Standard Classification Australia, National Occupation List New Zealand

For Australia, the new classification will be called the Occupation Standard Classification.

Australia and New Zealand are introducing their own new classifications of occupations that help them in the issuance of visas to foreign workers. The Australian Bureau of Statistics and Statistics New Zealand announced that while maintaining comparability, each country will introduce its own tailored occupational statistical classifications.

The joint Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) was established in 2006. The labour markets in both countries have changed and the differences are greater than when the joint management of the occupation classification commenced. 

New Zealand is replacing the ‘Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations’ used for visa issuance by a new classification system called ‘National Occupation List’ (NOL). The National Occupation List (NOL) is an independent New Zealand-focused occupation classification.

For New Zealand, the changes will come into effect on Wednesday 20 November 2024. For Australia, the new classification will be called the Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA), 2024, will be released on 6 December 2024.

It is expected that Immigration New Zealand will take some time for transition to the new classification system. Immigration New Zealand will, therefore, continue to use the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) until then and will provide a further update in 2025 when they have a confirmed switchover date.

ANZSCO grades occupations according to skill level ranging from 1 to 5, with 1 being the most skilled and 5 being less skilled.

ANZSCO is the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) and it groups jobs together into “occupations” that have similar tasks and responsibilities. A job must be matched to a single ANZSCO occupation and each occupation has a 6-digits ANZSCO code.

This article was first uploaded on October eighteen, twenty twenty-four, at eleven minutes past eleven in the morning.