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 RDA Tropical North.
Data source
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Census 2016 & 2021 – by place of work
Current area:
Current industry:
Current benchmark:
Sex:
| Local workers qualifications | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| RDA Tropical North - All industries | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||||
| Qualification level | Number | % | Queensland | Number | % | Queensland | 2016 - 2021 | ||
| Bachelor or Higher degree | 28,370 | 23.8 | 29.3 | 22,745 | 20.6 | 25.1 | +5,625 | ||
| Advanced Diploma or Diploma | 13,931 | 11.7 | 11.3 | 12,326 | 11.2 | 10.9 | +1,605 | ||
| Certificate I and II Level | 2,272 | 1.9 | 1.5 | 1,846 | 1.7 | 1.3 | +426 | ||
| Certificate III & IV Level | 30,512 | 25.5 | 23.2 | 27,254 | 24.7 | 23.0 | +3,258 | ||
| Certificate Level, nfd | 2,161 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 2,397 | 2.2 | 2.0 | -236 | ||
| No qualification | 38,728 | 32.4 | 30.7 | 39,809 | 36.0 | 35.0 | -1,081 | ||
| Inadequately described or not stated | 3,473 | 2.9 | 2.2 | 4,103 | 3.7 | 2.7 | -630 | ||
| Total Persons | 119,447 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 110,480 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +8,967 | ||
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 RDA Tropical North 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, 64.7% of the workers who held educational qualifications, and 32.4% had no qualifications, compared with 67.1% and 30.7% respectively for Queensland.
The major differences between the qualifications held by the workforce of RDA Tropical North and Queensland were:
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Bachelor or Higher degree (23.8% compared to 29.3%)
- A larger percentage of local workers with Certificate III & IV Level (25.5% compared to 23.2%)
- A larger percentage of local workers with No qualification (32.4% compared to 30.7%)
- A larger percentage of local workers with Inadequately described or not stated (2.9% compared to 2.2%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the qualifications held by the workforce in RDA Tropical North between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Bachelor or Higher degree (+5,625 local workers)
- Certificate III & IV Level (+3,258 local workers)
- Advanced Diploma or Diploma (+1,605 local workers)
- No qualification (-1,081 local workers)