Skills Australia, the organisation with the responsibility preparing the new Skilled Occupation List (SOL) – to be announced at the end of April and taking effect sometime mid-year - has released “Australian Workforce Futures – A National Workforce Development Strategy”.

This paper recommends ’A fundamental overhaul in the way the nation approaches and supports workforce development - at a national, industry and enterprise level.’

Of course, the paper, as published, will shape the future of Skilled Migration to Australia and govern the way Permanent Residency Visa applications, under the General Skilled Migration program, are processed in the future.

The ideas and statistics in this paper will be taken into account in the preparation of the new Skilled Occupation List.

The paper lists industries and occupations projected to have the highest rate of employment to 2025 (table 3, page 22), as well as listing ‘Specialised Occupations’ (page 82), which may be indicative of the way the new SOL will appear.