Qualification levels help to evaluate the economic opportunities and socio-economic status of local workers in a particular industry.
The level of qualifications in a workforce relate to a number of factors including:
- The age of the workforce;
- The skill and qualification level required to enter an industry;
- The professional or working ambitions of people (to seek education as youth or retraining as adults);
- The opportunities afforded to people to continue studying beyond compulsory schooling.
Educational Qualification statistics should be looked at in conjunction with Field of qualification and Occupations data for a full education analysis for Balonne Shire.
Data source
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Census 2016 & 2021 – by place of work
Current industry:
Current benchmark:
Sex:
Local workers qualifications | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Balonne Shire - All industries | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||||
Qualification level | Number | % | Queensland | Number | % | Queensland | 2016 - 2021 | ||
Bachelor or Higher degree | 400 | 18.7 | 29.3 | 345 | 16.4 | 25.1 | +55 | ||
Advanced Diploma or Diploma | 214 | 10.0 | 11.3 | 230 | 11.0 | 10.9 | -16 | ||
Certificate I and II Level | 28 | 1.3 | 1.5 | 27 | 1.3 | 1.3 | +1 | ||
Certificate III & IV Level | 477 | 22.3 | 23.2 | 416 | 19.8 | 23.0 | +61 | ||
Certificate Level, nfd | 36 | 1.7 | 1.8 | 41 | 2.0 | 2.0 | -5 | ||
No qualification | 928 | 43.3 | 30.7 | 962 | 45.8 | 35.0 | -34 | ||
Inadequately described or not stated | 59 | 2.8 | 2.2 | 78 | 3.7 | 2.7 | -19 | ||
Total Persons | 2,142 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 2,099 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +43 | ||
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions) Please refer to specific data notes for more information |


Dominant groups
Analysis of the qualifications of the in Balonne Shire in 2021 compared to Queensland shows that there was a lower proportion holding formal qualifications (Bachelor or higher degree; Advanced Diploma or Diploma; or Vocational qualifications), and a higher proportion with no formal qualifications.
Overall, 53.9% of the workers who held educational qualifications, and 43.3% had no qualifications, compared with 67.1% and 30.7% respectively for Queensland.
The major differences between the qualifications held by the workforce of Balonne Shire and Queensland were:
- A larger percentage of local workers with No qualification (43.3% compared to 30.7%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Bachelor or Higher degree (18.7% compared to 29.3%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Advanced Diploma or Diploma (10.0% compared to 11.3%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Certificate III & IV Level (22.3% compared to 23.2%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the qualifications held by the workforce in Balonne Shire between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Certificate III & IV Level (+61 local workers)
- Bachelor or Higher degree (+55 local workers)
- No qualification (-34 local workers)
- Advanced Diploma or Diploma (-16 local workers)