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 the Eastern Region.
Data source
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Census 2016 & 2021 – by place of work
Current area:
Current industry:
Current benchmark:
Sex:
| Local workers qualifications | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Eastern Region - All industries | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||||
| Qualification level | Number | % | Victoria | Number | % | Victoria | 2016 - 2021 | ||
| Bachelor or Higher degree | 154,487 | 39.9 | 39.0 | 118,912 | 34.0 | 33.3 | +35,575 | ||
| Advanced Diploma or Diploma | 47,500 | 12.3 | 11.5 | 42,611 | 12.2 | 11.5 | +4,889 | ||
| Certificate I and II Level | 3,550 | 0.9 | 1.0 | 3,181 | 0.9 | 1.0 | +369 | ||
| Certificate III & IV Level | 61,613 | 15.9 | 17.1 | 60,070 | 17.2 | 18.1 | +1,543 | ||
| Certificate Level, nfd | 6,026 | 1.6 | 1.5 | 6,117 | 1.7 | 1.8 | -91 | ||
| No qualification | 106,110 | 27.4 | 27.8 | 110,089 | 31.5 | 31.6 | -3,979 | ||
| Inadequately described or not stated | 7,921 | 2.0 | 2.2 | 8,924 | 2.6 | 2.8 | -1,003 | ||
| Total Persons | 387,207 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 349,904 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +37,303 | ||
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 the Eastern Region in 2021 compared to Victoria shows that there was a similar proportion holding formal qualifications (Bachelor or higher degree; Advanced Diploma or Diploma; or Vocational qualifications), and a similar proportion with no formal qualifications.
Overall, 70.6% of the workers who held educational qualifications, and 27.4% had no qualifications, compared with 70.1% and 27.8% respectively for Victoria.
The major differences between the qualifications held by the workforce of the Eastern Region and Victoria were:
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Certificate III & IV Level (15.9% compared to 17.1%)
- A larger percentage of local workers with Bachelor or Higher degree (39.9% compared to 39.0%)
- A larger percentage of local workers with Advanced Diploma or Diploma (12.3% compared to 11.5%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with No qualification (27.4% compared to 27.8%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the qualifications held by the workforce in the Eastern Region between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Bachelor or Higher degree (+35,575 local workers)
- Advanced Diploma or Diploma (+4,889 local workers)
- No qualification (-3,979 local workers)
- Certificate III & IV Level (+1,543 local workers)