Education and Work (Survey of)

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    NAME OF ORGANISATION
    Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)

    OVERVIEW

    Provides selected information on participation in education, highest non-school qualification, transition from education to work and current labour force and demographic characteristics for the civilian population aged 15-64 years and persons aged 65 to 74 years who are in the labour force or marginally attached to the labour force. Characteristics reported on include: type of educational institution attended or attending; level and main field of education of current study and highest level and main field of educational attainment. Information on unsuccessful enrolment and deferment of study is included for persons not studying in the survey year. Data on apprenticeships is also provided. Some of the statistical tables are presented in time series format.

    PURPOSE

    The repeated annual data series allows for ongoing monitoring of educational indicators.

    SCOPE

    This survey is conducted as part of the Monthly Population Survey, which comprises the Labour Force Survey and, in most months, a supplementary survey topic.

    SCOPE - Labour Force Survey

    The Labour Force Survey includes all persons aged 15 and over except:

    • members of the permanent defence forces;
    • certain diplomatic personnel of overseas governments, customarily excluded from census and estimated populations;
    • overseas residents in Australia; and
    • members of non-Australian defence forces (and their dependants) stationed in Australia.

    From July 1993 Jervis Bay Territory is also excluded from the scope of the survey. Before July 1993 it was included in estimates for the Australian Capital Territory.

    SCOPE - Education and Work survey

    The SCOPE of this supplementary survey is further restricted to persons aged 15 to 64 years and persons aged 65 to 74 years who are in the labour force or marginally attached to the labour force. The survey also excludes persons permanently unable to work, some patients in hospitals and sanatoriums and inmates of reformatories, gaols, etc.

    This survey is conducted in all areas of Australia but excludes respondents living in Indigenous Communities in very remote parts of Australia.

    COVERAGE - Labour Force Survey

    In the Labour Force Survey, coverage rules are applied which aim to ensure that each person is associated with only one dwelling, and hence has only one chance of selection. The chance of a person being enumerated at two separate dwellings in the one survey is considered to be negligible.

    Persons who are away from their usual residence for six weeks or less at the time of interview are enumerated at their usual residence (relevant information may be obtained from other usual residents present at the time of the survey).

    DATA DETAIL

    Conceptual framework

    Respondents to the Labour Force Survey who fell within the scope of this supplementary survey were asked additional questions. They were asked whether they were attending, or had attended in the previous year, an educational institution and if so, the type of educational intuition and the type of course attended. If respondents were not attending an educational institution full-time at the time of interview they were asked the year they finished full-time study. Persons who had left full-time study during the previous year were asked the time of the year they had left. Persons who were not studying were asked whether they had applied to enrol for study in the current year. All persons were also asked about their highest and most recent educational qualifications.

    Main outputs

    The key outputs from this survey are included in the publication 'Education and Work, Australia' (ABS Cat. No. 6227.0) and includes the following tables:

    Participation

    Summary statistics of persons enrolled in a course of study

    Whether enrolled in a course of study, by sex, May 2001 to current cycle

    Persons enrolled for a Qualification

    Level of education of current study, by age and sex

    Main field of education of current study, by age and sex

    Level and main field of education of current study, by sex

    Level of education of current study, by labour force status and sex

    Main field of education of current study, by sex, May 2001 to current cycle

    Attainment all persons

    Level of highest non-school qualification, by age, May 2001 to current cycle

    Summary statistics of level of highest non-school qualification

    Level of highest non-school qualification, by labour force status and highest year of school completed

    Level of highest educational attainment, by state or territory of usual residence and sex

    Employed Persons

    Level of highest educational non-school qualification, summary statistics

    Persons with a non-school qualification

    Level and main field of highest non-school qualification, by age and sex

    Main field of highest non-school qualification by level of highest non-school qualification

    Persons aged 65-74 years marginally attached to or in the labour force

    Level of highest educational attainment, selected characteristics

    Transition

    Summary statistics of persons completing a course of study leading to a qualification

    Type of enrolment in current year of persons aged 15 to 19 years, by labour force status and level of highest educational attainment

    Type of enrolment in current year of persons aged 20 to 24 years, by labour force status and level of highest educational attainment

    Transition from education to work of school leavers aged 15 to 24 years

    Enrolment experience

    Persons enrolled or applied to enrol at an institution in current year, by labour force status and age

    Apprentices

    Selected characteristics, May 2009 to current cycle

    Persons who applied for but are not undertaking an apprenticeship, selected characteristics, May 2009 to current cycle

    Data items collected in the survey include:

    • Sex
    • State/Area/Region
    • Single ages
    • Labour force status
    • Occupation
    • Industry
    • Birthplace
    • Year of arrival
    • Relationship in Household
    • Whether attending an educational institution in previous year
    • Whether attending an educational institution in May current year
    • Status of course of study undertaken in previous year
    • Type of Institution attending/attended
    • Type of attendance
    • Level of education of current and previous study
    • Field of education of current and previous study
    • Level and field of highest educational attainment
    • Level and field of highest non-school qualification
    • Type of school attending/last attended
    • Age left full-time study
    • Year left school
    • Time of leaving full-time education
    • Main reason left full-time education
    • Unmet demand for educational places
    • Field of trade of apprenticeship
    • Year of apprenticeship
    • Sector

    Classifications

    Demographics: State, Area, Region, Sex, Marital Status, Relationship in Household, Period of Arrival and Age.

    Country of Birth: The Standard Australian Classification of Countries (SACC).

    Occupation: Australian and New Zealand Standard Classification of Occupations, First Edition (ANZSCO).

    Industry: Australia and New Zealand Standard Industrial Classification (ANZSIC).

    Educational attainment: Australian Standard Classification of Education (ASCED). For further details see Australian Standard Classifications of Education (ASCED), 2001 (ABS Cat. no. 1272.0). Also available on the ABS web site: www.abs.gov.au

    Australian Standard Geographical Classification (ASGC) Regional levels - limited cross-classifications with other data items available

    Other concepts (summary)
    In this survey the term 'Leaver' has been used to describe persons who have left full-time education regardless of whether they still attend on a part-time basis. The term was coined back in the 1960's when only full-time attendance was considered to be of importance to policy makers. Given that full-time students still have different labour force patterns to part-time students the concept still remains of some value particularly in the movements shown over such a long period of time. However, part-time students are equally relevant to today's policy makers and information on total leavers (full-time + part-time) is collected in the survey. Since the survey now also collects information on what period of the previous 16 months the respondent left full-time education, there is a range of information available relating to 'Leavers' from education.

    The May 2001 publication included a new table on the characteristics of previous study (level and field of education of previous study leading to a qualification) of all "Leavers". Leavers were defined in the table as "persons who were enrolled in a course of study leading to a qualification in 2000 but who were not enrolled in a course of study leading to a qualification at May 2001. " Therefore leavers in this table cover leavers from both full-time and part-time study for a qualification. Similarly, the 2001 publication includes a new table on the characteristics of current study (level and field of education of current study leading to a qualification) for 'starters'. Starters in the new table are defined as "persons who were not enrolled in a course of study leading to a qualification in 2000 but who were enrolled in a course of study leading to a qualification at May 2001. "

    GEOGRAPHIC DETAIL
    Australia
    New South Wales
    Victoria
    Queensland
    South Australia
    Western Australia
    Tasmania
    Northern Territory
    ACT
    Part of State Metropolitan
    Part of State Extra-Metropolitan

    Comments and/or Other Regions

    Not all data available for all areas.

    COLLECTION FREQUENCY
    Annually

    Frequency comments

    While this has always been an annual survey, the month of the survey has varied between February, May and August.

    COLLECTION HISTORY

    Data on this topic was first collected in 1964, however there have been a number of breaks in the time series since then. Until 1976 the survey was restricted to persons aged 15-24 years. From 1977 to 1980 inclusive the survey was restricted to persons aged 15-25 years. From 1981, the survey was expanded to include persons aged 15-64 years. Data on apprenticeships has been collected since 1983 and educational attainment since 1989. From 2009, the survey was expanded to include persons aged 65-74 years who were in the labour force, or were marginally attached to the labour force.

    The topic has variously been conducted in the months of February, May, August and back to May again. For the first 17 surveys it was titled "Survey of Leavers from Schools, Universities and Other Educational Institutions". Changes in the amount and type of data collected supported a naming change in May 1981 to the title 'Transition from Education to Work'.

    DATA AVAILABILITY
    Yes

    Data availability comments

    Publication Education and Work, Australia, (ABS Cat. No. 6227.0)


    DATE OF LAST UPDATE FOR THIS DOCUMENT
    20/10/2017 04:14 PM