Western Downs Regional Council
Local workers - Qualifications - All industries
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:
| Local workers qualifications | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Western Downs Regional Council - All industries | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||||
| Qualification level | Number | % | Queensland | Number | % | Queensland | 2016 - 2021 | ||
| Bachelor or Higher degree | 2,730 | 16.6 | 29.3 | 2,380 | 14.6 | 25.1 | +350 | ||
| Advanced Diploma or Diploma | 1,604 | 9.7 | 11.3 | 1,551 | 9.5 | 10.9 | +53 | ||
| Certificate I and II Level | 359 | 2.2 | 1.5 | 270 | 1.7 | 1.3 | +89 | ||
| Certificate III & IV Level | 4,978 | 30.2 | 23.2 | 4,625 | 28.5 | 23.0 | +353 | ||
| Certificate Level, nfd | 312 | 1.9 | 1.8 | 341 | 2.1 | 2.0 | -29 | ||
| No qualification | 6,091 | 37.0 | 30.7 | 6,528 | 40.2 | 35.0 | -437 | ||
| Inadequately described or not stated | 404 | 2.5 | 2.2 | 555 | 3.4 | 2.7 | -151 | ||
| Total Persons | 16,478 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 16,250 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +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 | |||||||||
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)