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Jobs and Skills Australia has published its 2026 Occupation Shortage List (OSL), confirming that labour shortages across the country have continued to ease, with several occupations no longer classified as being in national shortage.
The annual list covers more than 1,000 occupations at skill levels 1 to 4 under Australia's Occupation Standard Classification framework.
The assessment examines shortages at national, metropolitan and regional levels, drawing on modelling, stakeholder surveys and input from government partners and Jobs and Skills Councils.
Australia Lists 279 Jobs Facing Worker Shortages in 2026, Highlights Most Affected Sectors
About half of the occupations removed from the shortage list in 2026 were in health, engineering, science and ICT.
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The remaining occupations were spread across other major occupational groups, indicating that improvements in workforce availability have occurred across several parts of the Australian economy.
However, being removed from the OSL does not mean employers in those fields have stopped hiring.
Instead, it means the gap between the number of available workers and employer demand has narrowed sufficiently for an occupation to no longer meet the criteria for…
