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 City of Sydney.
Data source
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Census 2016 & 2021 – by place of work
Current industry:
Current benchmark:
Sex:
| Local workers qualifications | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| City of Sydney - All industries | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||||
| Qualification level | Number | % | New South Wales | Number | % | New South Wales | 2016 - 2021 | ||
| Bachelor or Higher degree | 358,807 | 66.4 | 38.4 | 285,604 | 57.3 | 32.6 | +73,203 | ||
| Advanced Diploma or Diploma | 52,382 | 9.7 | 11.0 | 54,027 | 10.8 | 11.1 | -1,645 | ||
| Certificate I and II Level | 3,174 | 0.6 | 1.2 | 3,255 | 0.7 | 1.2 | -81 | ||
| Certificate III & IV Level | 33,648 | 6.2 | 18.1 | 36,619 | 7.3 | 18.7 | -2,971 | ||
| Certificate Level, nfd | 7,058 | 1.3 | 1.9 | 8,107 | 1.6 | 2.3 | -1,049 | ||
| No qualification | 74,940 | 13.9 | 27.0 | 98,420 | 19.7 | 31.1 | -23,480 | ||
| Inadequately described or not stated | 10,617 | 2.0 | 2.3 | 12,395 | 2.5 | 2.9 | -1,778 | ||
| Total Persons | 540,626 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 498,427 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +42,199 | ||
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 the City of 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, 84.2% of the workers who held educational qualifications, and 13.9% 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 the City of Sydney and New South Wales were:
- A larger percentage of local workers with Bachelor or Higher degree (66.4% compared to 38.4%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with No qualification (13.9% compared to 27.0%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Certificate III & IV Level (6.2% compared to 18.1%)
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Advanced Diploma or Diploma (9.7% compared to 11.0%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the qualifications held by the workforce in the City of Sydney between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Bachelor or Higher degree (+73,203 local workers)
- No qualification (-23,480 local workers)
- Certificate III & IV Level (-2,971 local workers)
- Advanced Diploma or Diploma (-1,645 local workers)