New Zealand's National Occupation List (NOL)

The National Occupation List (NOL) is a standalone occupational classification focused on the New Zealand employment market.

An overview of the NOL

New Zealand’s National Occupation List (NOL) is a new occupational classification system, introduced in November 2024, replacing the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO).

The NOL is designed to reflect the local labour market more accurately, with more than 1,000 occupations grouped by similar tasks and responsibilities.

According to Stats NZ, the NOL divides occupations into 5 skill levels, from level 1 (the highest skill) to level 5 (low skill), helping identify labour needs for immigration programmes.

The NOL allows New Zealand to add new and emerging occupations to meet users’ needs and requirements, and to reflect the New Zealand labour market and economy better. Maintaining alignment with Australia and internationally ensures comparability across the New Zealand, Australian and international labour markets and economies.

The current version of the NOL, containing the changes following the most recent consultation, and the concordance tables to the Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations (ANZSCO) V1.3 and the International Standard Classification of Occupations 2008 (ISCO08) V1.0 are available from Aria.

The National Occupation List and the concordance tables from Aria

• The National Occupation List V3.0(released 1 July 2025)
• The National Occupation List V2.0 to V3.0
• The National Occupation List V3.0 to ANZSCO V1.3 V1.0.0
• The National Occupation List V1.0 to ISCO08 V1.0 V1.0.0

Future updates to the NOL

The New Zealand government intends to publish regular annual updates from 1 January 2027. For occupations to be considered for the annual update, they need to be received by 31 October of the previous year.

The government notifies users of the proposed changes before the annual release. The government works collaboratively with users, using an iterative and dynamic approach to changing the content.