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 City of Melbourne.
Data source
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Census 2016 & 2021 – by place of work
Current industry:
Current benchmark:
Sex:
Local workers qualifications | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
City of Melbourne - All industries | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||||
Qualification level | Number | % | Victoria | Number | % | Victoria | 2016 - 2021 | ||
Bachelor or Higher degree | 329,166 | 65.4 | 39.0 | 248,240 | 56.8 | 33.3 | +80,926 | ||
Advanced Diploma or Diploma | 48,904 | 9.7 | 11.5 | 46,745 | 10.7 | 11.5 | +2,159 | ||
Certificate I and II Level | 2,530 | 0.5 | 1.0 | 2,526 | 0.6 | 1.0 | +4 | ||
Certificate III & IV Level | 34,921 | 6.9 | 17.1 | 35,002 | 8.0 | 18.1 | -81 | ||
Certificate Level, nfd | 5,478 | 1.1 | 1.5 | 5,718 | 1.3 | 1.8 | -240 | ||
No qualification | 73,102 | 14.5 | 27.8 | 89,060 | 20.4 | 31.6 | -15,958 | ||
Inadequately described or not stated | 8,952 | 1.8 | 2.2 | 9,456 | 2.2 | 2.8 | -504 | ||
Total Persons | 503,053 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 436,747 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +66,306 | ||
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 City of Melbourne in 2021 compared to Victoria shows that there was a higher proportion holding formal qualifications (Bachelor or higher degree; Advanced Diploma or Diploma; or Vocational qualifications), and a lower proportion with no formal qualifications.
Overall, 83.7% of the workers who held educational qualifications, and 14.5% 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 City of Melbourne and Victoria were:
- A larger percentage of local workers with Bachelor or Higher degree (65.4% compared to 39.0%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with No qualification (14.5% compared to 27.8%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Certificate III & IV Level (6.9% compared to 17.1%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Advanced Diploma or Diploma (9.7% compared to 11.5%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the qualifications held by the workforce in the City of Melbourne between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Bachelor or Higher degree (+80,926 local workers)
- No qualification (-15,958 local workers)
- Advanced Diploma or Diploma (+2,159 local workers)
- Certificate Level, nfd (-240 local workers)