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 Greater Sydney.
Data source
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Census 2016 & 2021 – by place of work
Current area:
Current industry:
Current benchmark:
Sex:
| Local workers qualifications | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Greater Sydney - All industries | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||||
| Qualification level | Number | % | New South Wales | Number | % | New South Wales | 2016 - 2021 | ||
| Bachelor or Higher degree | 1,074,966 | 47.4 | 38.4 | 842,559 | 40.0 | 32.6 | +232,407 | ||
| Advanced Diploma or Diploma | 255,636 | 11.3 | 11.0 | 243,421 | 11.6 | 11.1 | +12,215 | ||
| Certificate I and II Level | 20,467 | 0.9 | 1.2 | 19,735 | 0.9 | 1.2 | +732 | ||
| Certificate III & IV Level | 288,643 | 12.7 | 18.1 | 290,848 | 13.8 | 18.7 | -2,205 | ||
| Certificate Level, nfd | 41,028 | 1.8 | 1.9 | 44,625 | 2.1 | 2.3 | -3,597 | ||
| No qualification | 536,931 | 23.7 | 27.0 | 604,187 | 28.7 | 31.1 | -67,256 | ||
| Inadequately described or not stated | 51,798 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 59,199 | 2.8 | 2.9 | -7,401 | ||
| Total Persons | 2,269,469 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 2,104,574 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +164,895 | ||
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 Greater Sydney in 2021 compared to New South Wales 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, 74.1% of the workers who held educational qualifications, and 23.7% had no qualifications, compared with 70.7% and 27.0% respectively for New South Wales.
The major differences between the qualifications held by the workforce of Greater Sydney and New South Wales were:
- A larger percentage of local workers with Bachelor or Higher degree (47.4% compared to 38.4%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Certificate III & IV Level (12.7% compared to 18.1%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with No qualification (23.7% compared to 27.0%)
- A larger percentage of local workers with Advanced Diploma or Diploma (11.3% compared to 11.0%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the qualifications held by the workforce in Greater Sydney between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Bachelor or Higher degree (+232,407 local workers)
- No qualification (-67,256 local workers)
- Advanced Diploma or Diploma (+12,215 local workers)
- Certificate Level, nfd (-3,597 local workers)