Shifting skill levels

In our work we need to consider how the workforce is changing. For example, 'blue collar' work in the UK "fell from 62 per cent in 1961 to [...] 29 per cent in 2006" (Peetz, 2019, p. 88), a labour market which is very similar to our own in Aotearoa. Additionally - and admittedly this is old data, but better than nothing - from "2003 and 2012 the greatest increase in employment was in the jobs requiring the highest skill levels (employment in occupations with ‘skill-level 1’ grew by 38 per cent, and ‘skill-level 2’ grew by 32 per cent, compared to 10 per cent, 18 per cent and 6 per cent respectively amongst skill levels 3, 4 and 5)" (Peetz, 2019, p. 88). The skill levels required in the workforce are shifting.

What is a skill level? The Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) were a trans-Tasman joint venture between Statistics New Zealand and the Australian Bureau of Statistics in the late 1990s, to be used by government agencies. Similar to O*Net (US government occupational site), ANZSCO categorises work, tasks, and skills. They categorised work into eight skill levels, from Managers at skill level 1, to labourers at skill level 8. The skill levels are used by many career practitioners, but often those who work with ACC claimants. Going to the Advanced tab allows us to see how skills are related to occupations (Statistics New Zealand, 2022).

In New Zealand we can try to use the ANZSCO role descriptors to identify how much technology is required in a role, but often the role descriptors are quite silent on this area. O*Net is a much richer source, even though the roles have been described for the US labour market.

The example used on this post is finding radiologist job information. Enter the term into the ACC job type work sheets search field at the ACC link below and we don't find this role. So we head over to ANZSCO list, finding the number ("253917 Diagnostic and Interventional Radiologist"), then looking it up on the ACC site. We can download the work type sheet as a word document or a pdf. 

Note what information is provided.  The role states "Provides diagnostic medical services, and medical care and management of patients utilising radiant energy techniques such as general radiography, angiography, fluoroscopy, mammography, ultrasound, computed tomography, magnetic resonance imaging, nuclear medicine and bone densitometry", with normal tasks being to "Examines internal structures and functions of organ systems, and considers x-ray findings and other examinations and tests; makes diagnoses and advises patients, physicians, surgeons or other doctors; administers radiopaque substances by injection, orally, or as enemas, to render internal structures and organs visible on x-ray films or fluoroscope screens; conducts ultrasound, gamma camera, radioisotope scans and ct scanning" (Accident Compensation Corporation, 2022). We can see that the role needs computer skills, but this is not clear.

However, if we go to O"Net and look for a radiologist, 

Sam

References:

Accident Compensation Corporation. (2022). Job Type Detail Sheets. https://www.acc.co.nz/for-providers/treatment-recovery/work-type-detail-sheets/#/

Peetz, D. (2019). Chapter 4: Digitisation and the jobs of the future. In The realities and futures of work (pp. 83-112). ANU Press.

O*Net. (2022). Occupation Keyword Search. https://www.onetonline.org/

Statistics New Zealand. (2022). Advanced. Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations V1.3.0. http://aria.stats.govt.nz/aria/#ClassificationView:uri=http://stats.govt.nz/cms/ClassificationVersion/Z9DujoqhMVdksKZG