How to read the Occupation Shortage List: a parent's guide

The Occupation Shortage List (OSL) is the Australian Government's annual, official answer to one question: which jobs are employers struggling to fill? It rates 916 occupations, nationally and in every state and territory. On the latest list — the 2025 OSL, released October 2025 — 273 occupations (about 30%) are in national shortage. Here's how to read it without a policy degree.

What the list actually is

Every year, Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) — a government statutory body — assesses whether employers can fill jobs at market rates within a reasonable time. It draws on employer surveys about real recruitment rounds, job-vacancy data and labour-market analysis (the full recipe is in JSA's methodology paper). The output is a rating per occupation, per place.

It is the closest thing Australia has to an official "in demand" register — the same data behind skilled migration lists and training policy. And it's public. We build Workworthy on it because you shouldn't need to be a policy analyst to use it.

The four ratings, translated

• Shortage — employers across the state (or country) struggle to fill this job. Kitchen-table translation: people with this qualification are in demand here.
• Regional shortage — filling the job is hard outside the capital city, but okay in it. Translation: in demand — if you're outside the metro area.
• Metro shortage — the rarer reverse: hard to fill in the city, fine regionally. Only one occupation carries this rating nationally on the 2025 list.
• No shortage — employers can generally fill this job. Translation: not "no jobs" — just no unusual difficulty hiring. This one gets misread the most; more below.

The numbers (so you know the scale)

From our import of the 2025 OSL:

• 916 occupations rated, national plus all eight states and territories
• 273 in national shortage (29.8%) — down from 332 (36.2%) at the 2023 peak
• 344 in shortage in at least one state; 218 in shortage in every state and territory
• Trades are the tightest group: 46% of technicians-and-trades occupations are in national shortage, versus 39% of professional occupations

How a family should actually use it

Start with the kid, not the list. The list can't tell you what your son or daughter would be good at. It answers the second question: "of the things they're drawn to, where's the demand?" Take their two or three genuine interests to /occupations and check each one's rating in your state.

Weight the trend, not the badge. A single year's rating can move. An occupation in shortage five years straight (there are 123 of them nationally, 2021–2025) is a much sturdier signal than one that arrived this year. Every occupation page shows the five-year strip.

Check your state, not just the national line. 344 occupations are short somewhere, but only 218 everywhere. An occupation can be a smart bet in WA and a crowded field in Victoria.

Treat "No shortage" honestly. It doesn't mean "don't bother." Most Australians work in occupations that aren't in shortage. It means the market can fill roles — so entry may be more competitive, and demand isn't the selling point of that path.

What this doesn't tell you

The list measures employers' difficulty hiring — not pay, not conditions, not job satisfaction, not how many openings exist. A tiny occupation can be in shortage with a handful of vacancies. Geography stops at state and regional/metro — it can't see your town. And it's an annual snapshot, not a forecast: nobody, including JSA, is promising these gaps still exist in 2035. Where Workworthy adds interpretation on top of JSA's ratings — like our "harder for AI to replace" read — we label it as ours, every time. See /about-the-data for exactly what's official and what's our analysis.

FAQ

What does it mean when a job is "in shortage"?

Jobs and Skills Australia found that employers couldn't fill that occupation's vacancies at market pay within a reasonable time — based on surveys of real recruitment rounds and labour-market data. In family terms: qualified people are in demand.

Is the Occupation Shortage List the same as the skilled migration list?

No, but they're related. The OSL is the evidence base; migration lists (like the Core Skills Occupation List) draw on it plus other policy considerations. An occupation can be on one and not the other.

How often does the list update?

Annually. The current list is the 2025 OSL, released October 2025. The 2026 list is due late 2026 — Workworthy updates the same week it lands, and shows every prior year so you can see the trend.

Should my kid only consider jobs that are in shortage?

No — and we'd never say so. A shortage rating is one strong, honest signal about demand. It belongs alongside what your kid is actually good at, what they can see themselves doing at 30, and what the training path looks like. The list narrows the guesswork; it doesn't make the decision.