The Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) has been developed for use in the collection, analysis and dissemination of occupation statistics in Australia and New Zealand.
ANZSCO was developed jointly by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Statistics New Zealand (Statistics NZ) and the Australian Government Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) to improve the comparability of occupation statistics between the two countries and the rest of the world.
The past decade has seen ongoing structural change in the Australian and New Zealand labour markets with strong employment growth in areas such as health, community services, business services, tourism and hospitality, and retail. Occupations have become more specialised and new occupations have emerged and evolved, particularly in information technology, communications and health services.
An up-to-date occupational classification is an essential response to the changing labour market. ANZSCO will assist the many enterprises, education and training bodies, government agencies, and industry and professional organisations to understand and adapt to emerging occupational requirements.
It is important that ANZSCO provides a means of comparing Australian and New Zealand occupation statistics with international statistics. The International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO-88), which is under review and will become ISCO-08, forms the basis for such comparisons. Correspondence tables between ANZSCO and ISCO-08 will be provided when ISCO-08 is available in 2008.
In the development of the classification many individuals, government and private organisations, professional associations, industry training bodies and unions were consulted. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by many individuals and organisations.
In particular, we would like to thank the members of the Australian and New Zealand Reference Groups and the New Zealand Statistical Advisory Group who provided direction and guidance to the project team in developing ANZSCO.
We encourage use of the classification to improve the comparability and usefulness of occupation statistics across Australia and New Zealand.
| Dennis Trewin | Brian Pink |
| Australian Statistician | Government Statistician |
| Australian Bureau of Statistics | Statistics New Zealand |
September 2006
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