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.
| Males (%) | Females (%) | Persons (%) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lack of positions available | 25.7 | 21.6 | 23.8 |
| Would need to take pay or conditions cut to work in a relevant field | 11.6 | 11.5 | 11.6 |
| No longer interested in field of qualification/wanted career change | 43.7 | 40.3 | 41.7 |
| Comfortable in current job | 16.5 | 17.7 | 17.1 |
| Personal reasons | 12.8 | 20.1 | 16.5 |
| Other reasons(c) | 17.2 | 19.3 | 18.3 |
- Employed people aged 15-74 years with highest non-school qualification not relevant to current job.
- 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.
- 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).
