DIA win on official design occupations definitions
We are enormously proud of how effectively DIA members from across the country came together over the past twelve months to push for greater recognition by government of the contemporary face of Australian design jobs. Members practicing in wayfinding, graphic design, furniture, industrial, interiors and design strategy, among others, participated in our consultations to identify current job titles used in the design sector.
The Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) is a skill-based classification used to categorise all occupations in the Australian and New Zealand labour market. The standard government categories are used in everything from the Census, analysis of the labour market, university course planning through to immigration policy.
The DIA submission to government comprehensively detailed all the new and emerging design job titles in use, and argued for a revised structure that would group design roles together across disciplines and specialisations.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) has now announced proposed changes to how the world of work is described by government. The ABS describes these changes as 20 years in the making. They will create a new grouping ‘Design, Engineering and Science Professionals’, with four subcategories. Significantly, design is its own subcategory, separate from Architects, Planners and Surveyors.
Expanding the list of design jobs means that the value and contribution of the sector is better understood, and the new opportunities being created by design are being recognised. Grouping all the design occupations together underscores that regardless of the specialisation – product, space, experience – this profession shares common skills and approaches.
These are the design-specific changes proposed by the ABS:
Design has been recognised as a distinct profession covering a wide range of specialisations. This change signifies that design is not a niche occupation or a subcategory of other professions, it is a significant and growing field of core skills with many different applications.
Interior design has been restored to a skill level 1 occupation, in line with other design disciplines. Skill level 1 is used for jobs that demand a level of skill equal to a Bachelor Degree or higher qualification, or at least five years of relevant experience. The greater the range and complexity of the set of tasks, the greater the skill level of an occupation. Achieving this change was an essential element of our campaign for recognition of the professionalism of interior designers.
UI/UX designers are grouped within the design professionals category, rather than being categorised as IT roles. This change recognises the distinct skills of designers working in these roles by grouping them with other creatives in the digital design classification.
DIA members will have the chance to test out the new framework at the next Census, when they can demonstrate the range of contemporary job titles in the design sector when listing their occupation.
The ABS is seeking feedback on their proposed changes from now until later in the year, when the revised categories will be adopted across government.