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 Cook Shire.
Data source
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Census 2016 & 2021 – by place of work
Current industry:
Current benchmark:
Sex:
| Local workers qualifications | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cook Shire - All industries | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||||
| Qualification level | Number | % | Queensland | Number | % | Queensland | 2016 - 2021 | ||
| Bachelor or Higher degree | 453 | 18.7 | 29.3 | 426 | 14.8 | 25.1 | +27 | ||
| Advanced Diploma or Diploma | 229 | 9.4 | 11.3 | 257 | 9.0 | 10.9 | -28 | ||
| Certificate I and II Level | 57 | 2.4 | 1.5 | 49 | 1.7 | 1.3 | +8 | ||
| Certificate III & IV Level | 750 | 30.9 | 23.2 | 973 | 33.9 | 23.0 | -223 | ||
| Certificate Level, nfd | 52 | 2.1 | 1.8 | 66 | 2.3 | 2.0 | -14 | ||
| No qualification | 797 | 32.9 | 30.7 | 953 | 33.2 | 35.0 | -156 | ||
| Inadequately described or not stated | 86 | 3.5 | 2.2 | 147 | 5.1 | 2.7 | -61 | ||
| Total Persons | 2,424 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 2,871 | 100.0 | 100.0 | -447 | ||
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 Cook 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, 63.6% of the workers who held educational qualifications, and 32.9% had no qualifications, compared with 67.1% and 30.7% respectively for Queensland.
The major differences between the qualifications held by the workforce of Cook Shire and Queensland were:
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Bachelor or Higher degree (18.7% compared to 29.3%)
- A larger percentage of local workers with Certificate III & IV Level (30.9% compared to 23.2%)
- A larger percentage of local workers with No qualification (32.9% compared to 30.7%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Advanced Diploma or Diploma (9.4% compared to 11.3%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the qualifications held by the workforce in Cook Shire between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Certificate III & IV Level (-223 local workers)
- No qualification (-156 local workers)
- Advanced Diploma or Diploma (-28 local workers)
- Bachelor or Higher degree (+27 local workers)