This variable describes the skill level of a person's occupation. Level one is the highest level of skill and level five is the lowest level of skill. The skill level is set by the person's occupation (OCCP), rather than the skill level of the person themselves.
Occupation skill level experimental update version 1 has been created based on the ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, 2021 Australian Update. This update relates to the Australian labour market only.
Employed persons aged 15 years and over
| Code | Category |
|---|---|
| 1 | Skill level one |
| 2 | Skill level two |
| 3 | Skill level three |
| 4 | Skill level four |
| 5 | Skill level five |
| 9 | Skill level not determined |
| & | Not stated |
| @ | Not applicable |
| V | Overseas visitors |
Number of categories: 9
Not applicable (@) category comprises:
See Understanding supplementary codes for more information.
This variable is created from the Occupation Experimental Update Version 1 (OCCEV1P) variable. An occupation is coded using the ANZSCO - Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, 2021 at the 6-digit level to determine the Occupation skill level for the stated occupations. The relationship between occupation and occupation skill level is defined in the ANZSCO. Each 6-digit occupation is assigned a single skill level, however, the higher level categories (e.g. ‘Managers’) may comprise occupations at multiple skill levels. Therefore some ‘not further defined’ (nfd) codes (e.g. 'Managers nfd') do not have a corresponding skill level in the ANZSCO. In such cases, 2016 Census data was used to determine which skill level should be assigned to the ‘not further defined’ code.
This variable is new for 2021.
It is possible for a highly skilled person to work in a low skilled job/occupation, and it's also possible for a low skilled person (or a person with low or no formal qualifications) to work in a high skilled job.
Care should be taken when using this variable. The update is only relevant to occupations relating to agriculture, cyber security, naval ship building, and emerging occupations identified by the National Skills Commission. If these occupations are not relevant to your data needs, it is recommended to use the Occupation skill level (OCSKP) variable instead.
This variable is derived from the Occupation experimental update version 1 (OCCEV1P) variable. The non-response rate for Occupation experimental update version 1 (OCCEV1P) was 0.8% in 2021.
