Gender split in audiovisual industries

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has used two classification systems for occupations in recent years. The Australian Standard Classification of Occupations (ASCO), which was used for 1996 and 2001 Census data, was replaced by the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO), used to classify 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2021 Census data. These classification changes have complicated the comparison of occupations over survey periods.

The coding algorithms used for ASCO and ANZSCO are quite different. If an employee has dual titles that cannot be coded to a single occupation, this is resolved by ANZSCO by assigning them to a ‘not further defined’ occupation, whereas ASCO codes them to the higher occupation in the hierarchy. For example, a shop assistant may work as a cashier and also stack shelves. A cashier is higher in the occupation hierarchy than someone stacking shelves. In ASCO, this would be resolved by assigning the person to the occupation highest in the hierarchy, i.e. a cashier. However in ANZSCO, the person may be assigned to a more general shop assistant code, e.g. shop assistant nfd, because they do more than one job.

The tables below list ASCO occupation classifications for 1996 and 2001 and ANZSCO for 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2021. It does not include occupations where numbers varied by more than 10 per cent between ASCO and ANZSCO.

The tables are split into two time periods. The table immediately below displays data from years 2006, 2011, 2016 and 2021. Further below the table displays data from the years 1996 and 2001.