The state of Australia's skills 2021: now and into the future

This report examines Australia's current, emerging and future workforce skills needs. The report also examines how well matched the broad supply and demand of skills across the economy is. Better matching of supply and demand for skills makes it easier for Australians to get jobs. It also makes it easier for businesses to get the workforce they need. Both are the foundations of a strong, productive economy. A fundamental innovation in the work of the National Skills Commission (NSC) - contained in this report - is the focus on skills, alongside the more traditional analysis of the changing mix of occupations. The NSC has applied this skills focus both to analysing the present state of the labour market and examining what lies ahead.

The report finds that Australia has managed well the structural changes that have occurred in the labour market over the past few decades. The shape of Australia's workforce is changing as the labour market responds to big forces like an ongoing shift to services and higher skilled jobs, advances in technology and growing automation. The report offers a series of markers to help influence and inform the development of Australia's education and skills system over the years ahead. Accompanying the report are a suite of summary documents that provide a brief overview of the report's findings.

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