Employment and Skills

National Skills Taxonomy

Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) released a discussion paper on the new National Skills Taxonomy (NST), which will replace the existing Australian Skills Classification.

The NST aims to provide a common language and understanding of skills to better connect the education, skills and employment sectors.

The discussion paper seeks stakeholder views on:  

• Benefits and limitations of existing skills taxonomies 
• How an NST could help across education, training or the labour market
• Principles and key features you want in an NST
• What data should inform an NST and how it should be maintained=

ACCI will submit to this consultation so members are encouraged to send through views. The consultation closes on 9 August. 

Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold

The Temporary Skilled Migration Income Threshold (TSMIT) will increase from $70,000 to $73,150 on 1 July. This will affect new nomination applications from that date; they will need to meet the new TSMIT of $73,150 or the annual market salary rate, whichever is higher. The increase will not affect existing visa holders and nominations lodged before 1 July.  

Further information is available here.  

Migration Regulations 

 The Migration Regulations were amended this week to simplify the Temporary Graduate visa program and to to enhance the labour market mobility of temporary migrants under specific visa subclasses. An email will be sent separately to the Employment and Skills Committee to provide greater detail on these amendments. 

Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System Program Guidelines released 

The new Australian Apprenticeships Incentive System program guidelines, which come into effect on 1 July, were released this week. ACCI will send further communication to members to provide greater detail on the new guidelines.

Apprentices and trainees

The National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) has released data on apprentices and trainees for the December quarter. There was a 8.8 per cent decrease between December 2022 to December 2023. While apprenticeship and trainee numbers were relatively steady between 2015 and 2020, we saw a sharp increase after the October 2020 announcement of the Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements (BAC) scheme. However, the trend peaked in April-June 2022, and since the BAC program closed to new entrants in June 2022, over half of the progress made in boosting apprenticeship numbers from 2020 to 2022 had reversed by December 2023.

The 12-month and 10-year figures are deeply concerning. ACCI will continue our advocacy to the panel of the Strategic Review of the Australian Apprenticeship Incentive System and the government on support for employers and apprentices and keep you informed. 

VET Qualifications Reform Design Group

ACCI members met with the VET Qualifications Reform Design Group on Tuesday, providing the group with further insights as they work to design a new, tailored VET qualification system. The group is still looking for feedback on their initial advice proposed to the Skills and Workforce Ministerial Council in March 2024. Please send any further feedback to [email protected] by the end of July.

Consultation on the Regional Migration Settings  

The government released a discussion paper this week, Review of Regional Migration Settings, aimed at enhancing regional migration to support strong and sustainable regions and address challenges such as population decline, ageing workforce, and skills shortages. ACCI will provide a response to this consultation, and members’ views are encouraged. Responses are due to the Department of Home Affairs by 26 July.

Department of Education consultations

The Department of Education released two discussion papers this week, one on the Australian Tertiary Education Commission and one on the proposed Managed Growth Funding Model. Both proposed measures were recommendations from the Universities Accord final report. ACCI will provide a short response to each of these discussion papers. Responses are due by 26 July. 

Regional Labour Market Indicator

JSA released its new Regional Labour Market Indicator (RLMI) this week.

The RLMI combines vital measures of labour market capacity, from both an employee and an employer perspective, into a single measure of regional labour market performance. 

The March 2024 results show: 

• Most regions have benefited from recent strong labour market conditions, but there remains considerable variation between regions
• Major cities are more stronger-performing than regional and remove areas with high unemployment and limited employment opportunities
• The results highlight the additional challenges faced in many regional areas by both employers and jobseekers.