The Migration Strategy released in December 2023 provides a roadmap for the future reform of Australia’s migration system. The Migration Strategy also establishes a formal role for Jobs and Skills Australia in defining Australia’s skill needs using evidence and advice from tripartite mechanisms.
The Migration Strategy notes that while the Minister for Immigration, Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs is the decision maker on the final Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL), Jobs and Skills Australia will analyze the labour market and engage stakeholders to inform the final decisions on the Core Skills Occupation List.
Jobs and Skills Australia has developed a Migration Labour Market Indicator Model, that it will use alongside deep stakeholder engagement, to develop and then provide advice to the Government on the CSOL.
From 25 November 2023 there are changes to occupation requirements for the temporary residence transition streams of the Employer Nomination Scheme (ENS) and Regional Sponsored Migration Scheme (RSMS).
Occupations will no longer need to be specified in a skilled occupation list. The nominated occupation will need to be listed in the ANZSCO and the nominated worker will need to continue to work in the occupation nominated for their TSS visas.
The Core Skills Occupation List (CSOL) was proposed in the Migration Strategy. Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) is responsible for the analysis and stakeholder engagement needed to develop the CSOL. The CSOL is not a prioritised list in any way. This is because there are no limits on how many occupations are allowed to be on the list.
Further, the list applies to the Skills In Demand visa for temporary employer-sponsored migration, which means that there is no limit on the number of visas that could be granted for any given occupation. The number of visas will be driven by the level of demand from employer sponsors, not by any assessment of priority by Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA).
Whether an occupation is recommended by JSA to be included on the CSOL in its final advice will be determined by reference to two key criteria:
The JSA Skills Priority List, developed using an in-depth analysis of business recruitment activity and an extensive range of other economic data.
Analysing whether migration is an appropriate path to address the identified shortages includes considering whether migrants stay in their nominated occupations in the years after arrival, how important sponsored skilled visa holders are to the workforce relative to total employment and job vacancies, the pipeline of graduates from the Australian education and training sectors, and the market salary for occupations.
There are over 700 occupations in scope for potential inclusion on the CSOL. While JSA has grouped these occupations into three categories for the purposes of undertaking stakeholder consultation, all occupations are open for consultation.
To date, while the majority of stakeholder inputs have related to the ‘targeted for consultation’ group, JSA has also received stakeholder inputs with respect to both the ‘confident on list’ and ‘confident off list’ groupings, all of which we are considering before finalising our advice to Government.
Some occupations must be included on CSOL in line with Australia’s existing Free Trade Agreements.