The indicator provides a number of people who will be required to work in an occupation in forthcoming years. The demand for these people is broken down by:

• New/lost jobs indicates net change in employment caused by creation of new jobs and destruction of some of the existing ones. It can be positive or negative.
• Replacements captures the number of people needed to replace workers who changed jobs or left the labour market, such as retirees.
• Total job openings is the sum of 'New/lost jobs' and 'Replacements'.

Although the labour market narrative often focuses on numbers of new jobs created, it is the need to replace workers leaving existing jobs that comprises most of the skills demand. More than 90 per cent of all job openings are driven by the replacement needs.

Note: The detailed estimates are subject to possibly large and uncertain margins of error. They should not be taken literally but suggestive of indicative trends and patterns. As a rough rule of thumb, any cell containing fewer than 10,000 people should be regarded with caution. Cells with fewer than 1,000 people should be regarded with considerable scepticism.