2023-24 work plan

The Jobs and Skills Australia work plan focusses on providing high-quality independent advice to underpin Australia’s response to current, emerging and future workforce, skills and training needs. 

Each annual work plan will set out the key outcomes and priorities for the financial year. In 2023-24 these are: 

 

Analysis and advice on the short, medium and long-term skills needs of the Australian economy and how they could be met.

The Annual Jobs and Skills Report will bring together our analysis and advice on Australia’s jobs and skills needs.  Published by October 2023 

 

Strategic advice on the national skills system, including our major in-depth studies and input into policy processes.

Undertaking capacity studies of national significance for the labour market and the national skills system, including a focus on regional, rural and remote aspects, and cohort-specific issues:
Study commenced as part of 2022-23 work plan and will continue in 2023-24, with initial findings by end 2024  
Ongoing into first quarter of 2023-24, with a final report by September 2023 
  • an early childhood education and care (ECEC) workforce capacity study
 July 2023 – March 2024
  • food supply chain capacity study.
 January 2024 – June 2024

 

Delivering studies on priority cohorts including in key industries and including a focus on regional, rural and remote aspects, and cohort-specific issues:   
  • Vocational education and training (VET) workforce 
 July 2023 – December 2023
  • International student pathways and outcomes. 
 October 2023 – June 2024

 

Making significant contributions to shape national projects. This includes:  Ongoing through 2023-24 and beyond 
  • responding to any new priorities in the 2023-24 Budget and the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook 
 Details to be determined
  • supporting the National Skills Agreement process; with an option to co-design a performance framework for the VET system to support the National Skills Agreement 
 Commenced as part of 2022-23 work plan and ongoing through 2023-24 
Details to be determined 

 

Strengthening our partnerships with Jobs and Skills Councils (JSCs) and collaboration with the states and territories, including by:    
  • providing a platform to share workforce planning and training data with Jobs and Skills Councils and settling a regular cadence of engagement between JSA and JSCs 
 Ongoing through 2023-24 and beyond
  • pursuing opportunities to better integrate our data into state and territory analysis and products, including providing a platform for data sharing with states and territories 
  
  • better integrating state and territory information into our products such as the Skills Priority List 
  
  • a joint project with the Finance, Technology and Business Jobs and Skills Council to define digital skills and pilot measuring them in the workplace 
  
  • a joint project with the Northern Territory Government on measuring foundation skills in First Nations communities 
  
  • a project with the Victorian Skills Authority using a skills approach to analyse VET to employment pathways. 
  

Ongoing and regular publications, including analysis of labour markets, skills needs and skills shortages.

Refining approaches to delivery of legislative functions and developing approaches for new functions in the Jobs and Skills Australia Amendment Act 2023 – including on the impact of work arrangements and insecure work, and labour market imbalances.  Ongoing through 2023-24 and beyond 
Continuing to deliver analysis of the labour market, including the following regular releases – including a focus on regional, rural and remote aspects, and cohort-specific issues:   Frequency Publication timing
  • Nowcast of Employment by Region and Occupation
 Monthly ~Week 1 of each month
  • Labour Market Dashboards
 Monthly ~Week 2-3 of each month
  • Recruitment Insights Report
 Monthly ~Week 3 of each month
  • Internet Vacancy Index
 Monthly ~Week 3-4 of each month
  • Small Area Labour Markets
 Quarterly September, December, March, June
  • Australian Labour Market for Migrants
 Quarterly July, October, January, April
  • Skills Shortage Quarterly.
 Quarterly August, November, February, May

 

Progressing detailed analysis of skills and skills needs including through the: Frequency Publication timing
  • Quarterly Labour Market Update
 Quarterly August, November, February, May
  • Skills Priority List
 Yearly September
  • 5-yearly employment projections
 Yearly November/December
  • National skills taxonomy project.
 Ongoing throughout 2023-24 and beyond  

Ongoing research and development to enhance advice, drive continuous innovation and improvement, develop new intellectual property and address data gaps.

Expanding our capability on the labour market and skills outlook across industries, occupations, regions, and cohorts. Priorities also include development of: Ongoing through 2023-24 and beyond
  • a national skills supply and demand framework to assess the demand and supply of skills across the economy over time 
 Details to be determined – the specific projects in this area will be developed with partners and stakeholders; new areas for expanding the evidence may also be identified based on these consultations – to be implemented as our resourcing capacity allows.   
  • search and matching model to understand how well the labour market is matching supply and demand 
  
  • analysis of VET and Higher Education outcomes, transitions and career pathways (combining Jobs and Education Data Infrastructure model with real-world transitions from administrative data)    
  
  • development of further outputs based on the VET National Data Asset (for example, on student outcomes), and scoping a Higher Education Data Asset  
  
  • utilising the Skills Tracker linked dataset to analyse labour market transitions for occupations, regions and cohorts 

 
  • emerging occupations analysis, including analysis of real-time data on job advertisements
  
  • cognitive skills research and analysis 
  
  • integrated analysis of employment and related formal training by gender 
  
  • developing and publishing a framework for assessing the relative strength of regional labour markets
  
  • more detailed region-specific analysis that integrates labour market outcomes, labour demand and income volatility.
  

Enterprise systems and enabling activities to support strategic and effective operations.

Operationalising the functions and responsibilities in the permanent legislative model following passage of the Jobs and Skills Australia Amendment Act 2023. Ongoing through 2023-24 and beyond
  • This includes investing in deepening our engagement and outreach and onboarding the proposed Ministerial Advisory Board.
 Details to be determined

 

Ensure our governance and data sharing are fit for purpose in a tripartite arrangement, including expansion of data access and digital products to reflect user requirements and legislative functions. Ongoing through 2023-24 and beyond

Previous work plans

Take a look at our previous work plans: