MEDIA RELEASE
26 September 2012	Embargo: 11:30 am (Canberra Time)	147/2012

The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) today released the September Australian Social Trends which revealed Australian households are using 25 per cent more electricity and 22 per cent more gas, than they were ten years ago.

The Australian Social Trends is released quarterly and draws on a range of data to present a picture of Australian society. It covers social issues of current and ongoing concern, population groups of interest, and changes over time.

ABS Director of Social and Progress Reporting Sue Taylor said “Households generally account for a quarter of Australia’s overall energy consumption, with industry responsible for the remainder".

“We found that the types of energy most commonly used by households were petrol and electricity, followed by natural gas" she said.

The ABS found that cost price and energy star rating were almost equally important to householders when they were purchasing new appliances.

The publication shows that in 2011 around 1.1 million students were enrolled in higher education with over half of the students being women (57 per cent).

An additional 1.9 million students were undertaking Vocational Education and Training with slightly more men (52 per cent) than women (48 per cent) enrolled.

Ms Taylor said "the most popular fields of study were Management and Commerce for women and Engineering and Technologies for men".

In 2010-11, four out of five people reported working in a field that was the same as, or relevant to, their highest qualification. However, people working full time were more likely to be working in a field relevant to their qualifications (82 per cent) than those working part time (71 per cent).

The Education and Training industry had the highest proportion of people working in their field of highest qualification (91 per cent) closely followed by the Scientific and Technical Services industry (89 per cent).

The full Australian Social Trends, Sept 2012 (4102.0) publication is available free at abs.gov.au

Media note: When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.