ANZSCO

Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO)

ANZSCO is a system developed to collect, publish and analyse occupation statistics across government agencies, and is being introduced by the department as the new standard to capture occupation information in all visa, settlement and citizenship programs. ANZSCO will also be used within skilled visa programs, where it is a requirement for visa eligibility, as the standard by which a visa applicant's skills to undertake a specific occupation in Australia are assessed.

What is ANZSCO?

The Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) is a classification system that provides for the standardised collection, analysis, and dissemination of occupation data. It was developed jointly by the following organisations for use in the collection, publication and analysis of occupation statistics:

• the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
• Statistics New Zealand
• the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations (DEEWR).

ANZSCO replaces the former Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO), which was previously used by the department. ANZSCO provides a more accurate reflection of current occupations within the Australian and New Zealand labour markets than the former ASCO standard.

Visa and citizenship programs impacted by the introduction of ANZSCO

All visa and citizenship programs that collect information about a client's occupation will be impacted. However, the major impact will be on those Skilled Migration and Temporary Business Entry visa programs where assessment of a visa applicant's skills to undertake a specific occupation in Australia is the main processing requirement.
For all other applications lodged on or after 1 July 2010, the department will use ANZSCO codes and occupation information instead of ASCO in its systems and records. This applies to all visa applications where an occupation does not form part of the assessment for visa eligibility, and applicants for Australian citizenship by conferral or descent.

Skill levels

In ASCO, the skill level required for entry to occupations was inherent at the major group level. However, in ANZSCO it is only at specific occupation descriptions within unit groups (4 digit level) that the skill level required is indicated by way of a separate 'skill level' designator. Unlike ASCO, a major group in ANZSCO might include occupations at several different skill levels.

Representation of occupations

Some ASCO occupations are represented by a larger number of more detailed ANZSCO occupations. Example: Registered Nurse was represented by one ASCO code but is now represented by ten ANZSCO codes, depending on specialisation.

In other cases, several ASCO occupations may correlate to one ANZSCO occupation. Example: ASCO occupations 211915 Extractive Metallurgist and 211917 Physical Metallurgist are now represented by one ANZSCO occupation, namely 234912 Metallurgist.

                                             Print PDF