Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) has now released the 2024 Occupation Shortage List (OSL), formerly the Skills Priority List. This list is critically important for states to decide which occupation categories to fill in their individual states.
The OSL details occupations experiencing shortages, where employers struggle to fill or face significant challenges in filling vacancies. The latest results show that 33% of occupations (303 out of 916) are currently in national shortage, a decrease from the 36% reported in 2023. This shows that some of the jobs are no longer considered in short supply. However, the availability of jobs differs between states, and some states still have shortages of certain occupations. As such, it is important to consider individual states when considering the current shortages. We believe this will be critical when deciding state nomination and regional nominations under subclass 190 and subclass 491 visas. Further, Employer-Sponsored visas will arise as a direct result of shortages occurring in these individual states.