Western Downs Regional Council

Local workers - Qualifications - All industries

In Western Downs Regional Council, 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 Western Downs Regional Council.

Data source

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

Current industry:
Current benchmark:
Sex:
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Local workers qualifications
Western Downs Regional Council - All industries 20212016Change
Qualification levelNumber%. QueenslandNumber%. Queensland2016 - 2021
Bachelor or Higher degree2,73016.629.32,38014.625.1+350
Advanced Diploma or Diploma1,6049.711.31,5519.510.9+53
Certificate I and II Level3592.21.52701.71.3+89
Certificate III & IV Level4,97830.223.24,62528.523.0+353
Certificate Level, nfd3121.91.83412.12.0-29
No qualification6,09137.030.76,52840.235.0-437
Inadequately described or not stated4042.52.25553.42.7-151
Total Persons16,478100.0100.016,250100.0100.0+228

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
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Dominant groups

Analysis of the qualifications of the in Western Downs Regional Council 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, 60.6% of the workers who held educational qualifications, and 37.0% had no qualifications, compared with 67.1% and 30.7% respectively for Queensland.

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

  • A smaller percentage of local workers with Bachelor or Higher degree (16.6% compared to 29.3%)
  • A larger percentage of local workers with Certificate III & IV Level (30.2% compared to 23.2%)
  • A larger percentage of local workers with No qualification (37.0% compared to 30.7%)
  • A smaller percentage of local workers with Advanced Diploma or Diploma (9.7% compared to 11.3%)

Emerging groups

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

  • No qualification (-437 local workers)
  • Certificate III & IV Level (+353 local workers)
  • Bachelor or Higher degree (+350 local workers)
  • Certificate I and II Level (+89 local workers)

Western Downs Regional Council

economic profile