OSCA maintenance strategy

The OSCA maintenance strategy (the strategy) provides a framework that ensures the Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA) reflects a modern Australian labour market and stakeholder expectations. The strategy promotes comparability over time, across datasets and supports alignment with international frameworks such as the International Standard Classification of Occupations (ISCO). It places stakeholder engagement at the centre and clearly defines the role of the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) as custodian of OSCA. Finally, it reinforces transparency by explaining how the ABS communicates decisions.

The strategy outlines the principles and processes for updating OSCA. It describes the types and frequency of updates, explains how stakeholders can engage and provide feedback, and sets out how the ABS publishes updates.

The strategy does not address operational procedures for coding or data collection, internal ABS resource allocation, project management decisions or the implementation by external stakeholders.

The Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) primarily reflected the labour market of 2001. Stakeholders indicated that its structure was outdated, and its descriptions were inaccurate, making efforts to support economic growth and address critical skills and workforce shortages more difficult. 

The Australian Government funded a comprehensive review to address these limitations. This resulted in OSCA – a modern classification tailored to the Australian labour market. The comprehensive review includes this maintenance strategy to eliminate the need for another comprehensive review in future.

The comprehensive review advocated for annual updates to the classification. Stakeholders have indicated this would be too frequent, as annual updates are unlikely to all be implemented by government agencies due to cost.

A robust and transparent maintenance framework will ensure OSCA remains relevant, accurate and aligned with evolving labour market dynamics and international standards.

The ABS is the custodian of OSCA and the associated occupation standard. As Australia’s national statistical agency, the ABS holds exclusive discretion over decisions relating to the classification’s structure and content.

This governance model marks a shift from the previous joint management of ANZSCO with Stats NZ Tatauranga Aotearoa (Stats NZ). While the ABS and Stats NZ continue to collaborate, each agency now maintains separate, but aligned, national occupation classifications.

As custodian, the ABS ensures OSCA meets the needs of a broad range of stakeholders, including policymakers, researchers and industry. This requires improving responsiveness without compromising statistical integrity or coherence. This means some decisions may not align with individual stakeholder preferences.

The ABS follows 4 guiding principles in maintaining OSCA: transparency, objectivity, statistical integrity and stakeholder engagement.

• Transparency: The ABS documents and clearly communicates the rationale behind decisions and consults on proposed updates to allow feedback. Any stakeholder feedback that is not immediately actionable will be added to a register for later review. This ensures that valuable input is not lost and can be revisited and implemented should future circumstances make it viable.
• Objectivity: All decisions are based on evidence. Proposed changes are assessed against consistent criteria including the Principles of Statistical Classifications (Annex A).
• Statistical integrity: Proposed changes adhere to the Principles of Statistical Classifications (Annex A). These include exhaustiveness (where all jobs are accounted for), mutual exclusivity (where each job fits into only one occupation), and usefulness (which ensures classifications support comparability and meaningful analysis).
• Stakeholder engagement: Stakeholders have subject matter knowledge and access to additional data. The ABS commits to public consultation as the primary engagement mechanism to source this expertise and communicate proposed changes. Public consultation is supported by discussions with technical experts and partner agencies.

The ABS categorises updates to the classification into 2 main types: occupation updates and structure updates.

Occupation updates

Introduce minor changes to the classification at the 6-digit occupation level. These updates may involve:

• separately identifying emerging occupations
• retiring occupations that no longer meet the minimum threshold for statistical balance
• modifying skill levels
• modifying the descriptive elements of an occupation, including titles, specialisations, lead statements, main tasks, licensing and registration requirements, and inclusion or exclusion statements.

If an update changes the scope of an occupation, the ABS will retire the existing occupation code and assign a new code.

Structure updates

Involve changes to the classification hierarchy, identifier scheme or conceptual basis. These updates may include:

• separately identifying new major, sub-major, minor or unit groups
• retiring groups that fall below statistical thresholds
• modifying descriptive elements such as titles, lead statements and subcategories
• modifying 6-digit occupation identifiers as a result of changes to the classification structure
• changing the conceptual basis (including how skill is defined and measured)
• changing the identifier scheme.

The maintenance schedule provides for 2 occupation updates and 1 structure update every 5 years. It is timed to ensure that each Census of Population and Housing uses the most recent structure update. 

• The first occupation update occurs 3 years after the most recent structure update.
• The second occupation update follows 2 years later.
• The structure update takes place 1 year later.

This model balances regular updates with the stability required for coherence. It reflects extensive consultation with stakeholders who sought to optimise cost, feasibility, timeliness and accuracy. Critically, this model ensures all occupation updates are included in a Census within 5 years.

The ABS recognises that this schedule may not meet the requirements of all stakeholders. Some stakeholders sought less frequent updates to limit the cost of implementing OSCA into their systems. Other stakeholders sought more frequent updates to reflect changes in the Australian labour market more quickly. As part of its commitment to process quality, the ABS will review the maintenance schedule in 2030.

The ABS follows a transparent consultation model that draws on the expertise of stakeholders while maintaining the integrity and feasibility of the maintenance framework. Consultation is the third of 6 phases involved in producing an update (Annex B). 

The ABS will conduct public consultation during designated periods, providing stakeholders with the opportunity to submit proposals or comments. These consultation periods will ensure feedback is reviewed in a timely and coordinated manner. The schedule for these consultations is detailed in Figure 2.

The ABS will release a draft of the proposed changes to give stakeholders the opportunity to prepare feedback ahead of publishing an update.

The ABS also maintains an 'always open' email pathway, allowing consultation at any time. The ABS will respond to all stakeholders to clarify feedback, explain decisions or explore alternative solutions.

The ABS provides multiple pathways for communication and feedback.

• About OSCA serves as the central source for information about the maintenance framework and general information for stakeholders.
• An email subscription keeps stakeholders informed about upcoming activities.
• The ABS Consultation Hub hosts formal consultations on draft updates.

These pathways support a wide user base, including analysts, policymakers and industry.

The maintenance of OSCA is organised around the Census as the primary data source for analysis. The ABS also utilises other sources of data when considering updates to the classification. These include:

• Administrative data: Includes data from government programs – such as, taxation, education, migration and employment services – that offer more frequent and targeted information on occupational trends.
• Environmental scanning: Ongoing monitoring of labour market developments, including emerging job titles, industry changes, and technological shifts. This scanning involves reviewing job advertisements, industry reports and international developments.
• Stakeholder input: Engagement with subject matter experts, industry representatives and academic researchers to validate findings and interpret complex or ambiguous trends.

These sources are synthesised to inform decisions about whether and how the classification should be updated.

The ABS may provide experimental estimates of the number of employed persons using each new version of the classification, prior to the publication of ABS official statistics. This will enable more timely analysis, system testing, and policy planning using each new classification. The OSCA team also use experimental estimates to test whether a proposed change would maintain statistical integrity.

Experimental estimates are particularly valuable when:

• the classification has undergone significant structural change
• stakeholders need to assess the implications for time series, program eligibility or funding models
• there is a need to support early adoption or pilot use in administrative systems, such as the Australian Apprenticeships Priority List, Core Skills Occupations List or Occupation Shortage List.

Despite their utility, experimental estimates present several challenges, including:

• Accuracy: Because they are not official statistics, stakeholders must interpret them with caution. They may be based on partial data, assumptions or provisional coding.
• Coherence: Estimates may not be directly comparable with statistics published using either the old or new classification, especially where conceptual definitions have shifted.

The ABS will produce and maintain a suite of outputs to support the use and interpretation of OSCA. These include:

• Classification versions: Official releases of the classification, including full structural hierarchies and metadata.
• Correspondence tables: These show relationships between current and previous versions of the classification, enabling continuity in reporting and analysis. Correspondence tables also support comparison with other classifications such as ISCO.
• Coding tools: Resources to assist stakeholders to assign classification codes to occupation data, including to individual records or in bulk.
• Standard questions: Recommended question wording and response frameworks for data collection instruments, ensuring consistent occupation data collection across surveys and administrative sources.

To ensure broad and timely access, the classification will be disseminated through the following channels:

• ABS website: The primary platform for accessing classification materials, including downloadable files, documentation and guidance.
• Application programming interface (API): Structured data services which allow stakeholders to integrate classification data directly into their systems.

The ABS will phase in the updated occupation classification across its major statistical collections, including:

• Census: The ABS plans to release Census data via the suite of Census Products coded to both the latest and previous structure updates (see Update types). This plan provides stakeholders with the data they need to make comparisons between points in time current or previous versions of OSCA.
• Labour Force, Australia: Labour Force estimates will be classified to the latest update approximately 6 months after release, dependent on available resourcing. Labour Force estimates will be backcast every 5 years if required to maintain time series continuity.
• Other ABS collections: Implementation in other collections will be done as soon as practicable, subject to relevance, feasibility and resource availability. 

While the ABS is responsible for maintaining OSCA, it is not responsible for implementation by external stakeholders. Nonetheless, the ABS will encourage implementation in key policy and administrative contexts such as skills priority lists, visa programs, tax data systems and skills assessment services.

To support implementation of each update, the ABS will provide a suite of implementation resources and maintain open communication with stakeholders. 

Stakeholders will have access to:

• correspondence tables, which show relationships between mapping changes between current and previous versions of the classification
• summaries of changes
• technical guidance to support system implementation
• coding tools, including support for bulk coding
• the OSCA team, who can direct stakeholders to required resources.

The ABS will continue to support the Implementation Steering Group as a forum for collaboration, knowledge sharing and implementation support with key stakeholders.

This strategy reflects a considered and collaborative step forward in the way the Occupation Standard Classification for Australia (OSCA) is maintained. Developed through sustained engagement between government, stakeholders and the public, it demonstrates a shared commitment to enhancing the quality, relevance and responsiveness of Australia’s statistical infrastructure.

Aligned with the ABS’s purpose to inform Australia’s important decisions, this strategy presents a modern framework to ensure the production of relevant, trusted and objective labour market data and insights. It ensures OSCA remains fit for purpose in a changing economic and social landscape, with a regular update schedule that improves responsiveness without compromising statistical integrity or coherence.

The strategy also contributes to national efforts to address skills gaps and support long-term workforce and education planning, by enabling more accurate and timely insights into Australia’s labour market and broader economy. 

This modernised approach reinforces the importance of adaptable, data-informed processes in maintaining high-quality official statistics. It supports the effective dissemination and implementation of OSCA and reflects principles that inform the ABS’s maintenance of national statistical infrastructure.

Statistical classifications are ordered sets of related, mutually exclusive categories which should not exist in isolation from a supporting statistical standard. Statistical classifications allow data to be presented in a standard way by ordering data for specific subject matter needs, thereby enabling data coherence across statistical collections.

Owned

• Has a custodian
• Stakeholders have been documented and consulted with
• Has a maintenance schedule

Helpful for statistical analysis

• Meets statistical user needs
• Has been tested
• Allows for output that conforms to the ABS’s mission statement of accurate, reliable, relevant, and timely
• Supports output of meaningful data for analysis
• Results allow for extrapolation

Representative

• Current and relevant
• Provides a basis for explanations
• As inclusive as possible of the units intended to be observed under the concept
• Does not skew sample results
• As statistically balanced as possible – categories at the same level are similar in size

Well structured

• Flat or hierarchical
• Arranged logically and sequentially
• The classification is exhaustive of the units it is intended to cover
• Mutually exclusive categories at the same level are clearly defined and do not overlap with each other
• Uses a consistent conceptual basis
• Can be used in the collection, production, and presentation of statistics
• Uses numeric and/or alpha code identifiers

Clearly defined

• Scope, conceptual basis, and objectives are documented
• Category names are precise, unique, and reflective of the category scope
• Definitions are clear and unambiguous
• Units being measured are defined
• Uses standard international and/or ABS definitions where appropriate
• All documentation relevant to the classification are consistent
• Content of each category in the classification is clearly defined

Comparable

• Promotes international and national comparability or harmonisation
• Correspondence to similar international and domestic classifications are available if applicable
• Comparable over time – maintains time series
• Comparable across collections

Robust

• Practicable – can be easily implemented in the real world
• Will be relevant for a period of time
• Can be used in a variety of applications
• Meets the needs of data collections, analysis, and dissemination simultaneously