City of Sydney

Resident workers - Qualifications

82.8% of the resident workers (All industries) in the City of Sydney have qualifications, compared to 70.7% for New South Wales.

Education is an essential means of building the knowledge and skill levels of the labour force, which is a key factor in achieving future economic and social development.

The level of educational attainment for the City of Sydney's resident workforce relates to a number of factors including:

  • The age structure of the resident workforce;
  • The professional or social ambitions of people to obtain qualifications (that is, to seek education and retraining);
  • The opportunities afforded to people to continue studying beyond compulsory schooling, and;
  • The knowledge and skill requirements of the local industries.

Qualification should be looked at in conjunction with Income , Occupations and Field of qualification for a clearer picture of the knowledge and skill level of the City of Sydney's local resident workers.

When comparing the Qualifications of local resident worker with local workers, Qualifications statistics indicates whether an economy draws on the skills offered by its own residents or on a different set of skills imported from elsewhere in the region.

Data source

Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Census 2016 and 2021 – by usual residence

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Resident workers qualifications
City of Sydney - Persons20212016Change
Qualification levelNumber%. New South WalesNumber%. New South Wales2016 - 2021
Bachelor or Higher degree82,32564.938.468,25858.232.6+14,067
Advanced Diploma or Diploma12,5539.911.012,27510.511.2+278
Certificate I and II Level7050.61.26400.51.2+65
Certificate III & IV Level8,0836.418.28,1607.018.7-77
Certificate Level, nfd1,4511.11.91,5111.32.3-60
No qualification19,15415.127.023,62620.231.1-4,472
Inadequately described or not stated2,6232.12.32,7762.42.9-153
Total Persons126,894100.0100.0117,246100.0100.0+9,648

Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions)

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 resident workers (All industries) in the City of Sydney in 2021 compared to New South Wales shows that there was a higher proportion of resident holding formal qualifications (Bachelor or higher degree; Advanced Diploma or Diploma; or Vocational qualifications), and a lower proportion of males with no formal qualifications.

Overall, 82.8% of the resident workers (All industries) held educational qualifications, and 15.1% had no qualifications, compared with 70.7% and 27.0% respectively for New South Wales.

The major differences between qualifications held by the resident workers (All industries) of the City of Sydney and (New South Wales) were:

  • A larger percentage of resident workers (All industries) with Bachelor or Higher degree (64.9% compared to 38.4%)
  • A smaller percentage of resident workers (All industries) with No qualification (15.1% compared to 27.0%)
  • A smaller percentage of resident workers (All industries) with Certificate III & IV Level (6.4% compared to 18.2%)

Emerging groups

The largest changes in the qualifications held by the resident workers (All industries) in the City of Sydney between 2016 and 2021 were:

  • Bachelor or Higher degree (+14,067 persons)
  • No qualification (-4,472 persons)
  • Advanced Diploma or Diploma (+278 persons)
  • Certificate III & IV Level (-77 persons)

City of Sydney

economic profile