The ABS today released its annual Education and Work survey, which provides information on participation in education, highest educational attainment, transition from education to work and current labour force and demographic characteristics for the civilian population aged 15-74 years.
According to the ABS, Aussies are more educated than ever before, with nearly six out of ten Australians having a qualification, and over one quarter having a degree as at May 2015.
Moreover, in May 2015, 3 million (1 in 5) of the 15.7 million people aged 15 to 64 years in Australia were estimated to have been enrolled in formal study. Of these, 1.2 million people were aged 15 to 19 years, and 718,800 people were aged 20 to 24 years.
Of those engaged in study, approximately 1.2 million (41%) were attending a higher education institution, 884,000 (29%) were at school, 474,400 (16%) were at Technical and Further Education (TAFE) institutions and 404,200 (13%) were at other educational institutions or organisations.
The increase in education attainment has also been most pronounced for women:
“Since 1990, the proportion of working aged women (15-64 years) with a degree has increased four-fold from around 7 per cent to 29 per cent, while the proportion of men has increased more slowly from 10 per cent to 24 per cent,” said Michelle Marquardt of the ABS.
“In those 25 years, the proportion of women of this age group with a qualification rose from 34 per cent to 60 per cent while the proportion of men with a qualification increased from 45 per cent to 61 per cent.”
Meanwhile, people with higher levels of educational attainment were more likely to be employed, with 81% of persons with a Bachelor degree or above and 76% of persons with an Advanced diploma, Diploma or Certificate III or IV being employed. This compares with 66% of persons with Year 12 as their highest attainment and 44% with Year 11 or below as their highest attainment.
