Southern Downs Regional Council area

Local workers - Qualifications - All industries

In the Southern Downs Regional Council area, the workforce has a lower proportion with University qualifications compared to Queensland.

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 Southern Downs Regional Council area.

Data source

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Census 2016 & 2021 – by place of work

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Local workers qualifications
Southern Downs Regional Council area - All industries 20212016Change
Qualification levelNumber%. QueenslandNumber%. Queensland2016 - 2021
Bachelor or Higher degree2,35916.929.31,96714.825.1+392
Advanced Diploma or Diploma1,2418.911.31,1568.710.9+85
Certificate I and II Level3112.21.52391.81.3+72
Certificate III & IV Level3,74126.723.23,19824.023.0+543
Certificate Level, nfd2772.01.83132.42.0-36
No qualification5,67240.530.75,97544.935.0-303
Inadequately described or not stated3982.82.24643.52.7-66
Total Persons13,999100.0100.013,312100.0100.0+687

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
Did you know? By clicking/tapping on a category in the chart below you will be able to drilldown to the sub categories.
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Dominant groups

Analysis of the qualifications of the in the Southern Downs Regional Council area 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, 56.6% of the workers who held educational qualifications, and 40.5% had no qualifications, compared with 67.1% and 30.7% respectively for Queensland.

The major differences between the qualifications held by the workforce of the Southern Downs Regional Council area and Queensland were:

  • A smaller percentage of local workers with Bachelor or Higher degree (16.9% compared to 29.3%)
  • A larger percentage of local workers with No qualification (40.5% compared to 30.7%)
  • A larger percentage of local workers with Certificate III & IV Level (26.7% compared to 23.2%)
  • A smaller percentage of local workers with Advanced Diploma or Diploma (8.9% compared to 11.3%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the qualifications held by the workforce in the Southern Downs Regional Council area between 2016 and 2021 were:

  • Certificate III & IV Level (+543 local workers)
  • Bachelor or Higher degree (+392 local workers)
  • No qualification (-303 local workers)
  • Advanced Diploma or Diploma (+85 local workers)

RDA Darling Downs and South West Region

economic profile