Eight out of ten workers have a highest qualification relevant to their job

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Released
19/04/2024
Source
Qualifications and work, 2022-23 financial year

Most employed people aged 15-74 years with one or more non-school qualifications said their highest qualification was relevant to their current job (7.9 million or 79 per cent) in 2022-23, according to data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS). 

Mell Plumb, ABS head of education statistics, said: “Of these, 6.4 million workers said they worked in the field of their highest qualification.”

“While 1.6 million workers were not working in the field of their highest qualification, they did have a qualification that was relevant to their current job.”

Meanwhile 2.0 million employed people said their highest qualification was not relevant to their current job. Of these, 42 per cent were no longer interested in the field of their highest qualification or had wanted a career change. A further 24 per cent reported a lack of available positions in the field of their highest qualification.

  1. Employed people aged 15-74 years with highest non-school qualification not relevant to current job.
  2. Refers to all reasons why main field of highest non-school qualification is not relevant to current job; therefore, people may appear in more than one category.
  3. Other reasons include qualifications not recognised in Australia and skills not current.

Source: Qualifications and work 2022-23, Table 7

A total of 12.7 million people aged 15-74 years had one or more non-school qualifications in 2022-23. Of these, 1.4 million people had three or more qualifications, 3.2 million had two qualifications and 8.1 million had one qualification. There were 6.3 million people with no qualifications.

“The proportion of people with one or more non-school qualifications rose to 67 per cent in 2022-23 from 62 per cent in 2018-19. 

“Meanwhile, the proportion of people with no qualifications fell to 33 per cent, over the same time period, from 38 per cent,” Ms Plumb said.

Of all those aged 15-74 years with one or more non-school qualifications, 51 per cent were women (6.5 million) and 49 per cent were men (6.2 million). 

Media notes

  • When reporting ABS data you must attribute the Australian Bureau of Statistics (or the ABS) as the source.
  • The Survey of Qualifications and Work asked employed people aged 15 to 74 years whether the field of their highest non-school qualification (certificate, diploma and degree) was relevant to their current job. 
  • The reference period for this survey was July 2022 to June 2023.
  • For media requests and interviews, contact the ABS Media Team via media@abs.gov.au (8.30am-5pm Mon-Fri).
  • Subscribe to our media release notification service to get notified of ABS media releases or publications upon their release.