8101.0 - Innovation and Technology Update (Newsletter), Nov 1999  
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 07/05/2000   
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7. HUMAN RESOURCES IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

On 12 March 1999, the ABS released the publication 8149.0 Human Resources in Science and Technology (HRST), Australia, 1996. It is the first release of data on HRST in Australia in this form and is primarily based on data collected in the 1991 and 1996 Censuses of Population and Housing.

The combination of science and technology (S&T) and human resources is a key ingredient of competitiveness and economic development. An increasingly skilled and effective work-force is needed to negotiate the rapid change and challenges that are emerging in S&T. It is necessary to have an understanding of the human capital element.

In the early 1990's experts from around the world gathered to define human resources in science and technology (HRST). The result, published by the OECD in 1995, was the Manual on the Measurement of Human Resources Devoted to Science and Technology - the Canberra Manual. HRST are defined as people who have either completed tertiary education or have an occupation in S&T, or both - the most skilled members of the work-force. The Manual establishes the methodological framework for the measurement of HRST. The HRST statistics in the Australian publication are based on standards and definitions in this OECD manual.