Michael Keating, Wendy Riemens and Caroline Smith

Workforce Participation, per cent (various years)

1966 1978 1988 1998 2003 2008 2012 Male 84 78.8 75.2 72.8 71.5 72.7 71.8

Female 40 43.7 49.9 53.8 55.9 58.6 58.8 Total 60 61 62.4 63.2 63.6 65.5 65.2

Source: ABS, 6204.0.55.001 - Labour Force Historical Timeseries, Australia, February 2009 and 6291.0.55.001 Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery, Table 01. Labour force status by Social marital status, age and sex

Workforce Participation, per cent (various years)

Male Employment Participation Ratios Age group Employment Ratio

1966 1970 1983 1990 2003 2012

35 - 54 96.2 96.3 87.4 89.0 85.1 86.6

55 - 59 89.7 90.3 73.0 72.3 70.1 76.7

60 - 64 78.6 76.7 39.8 46.2 48.4 60

Source: ABS, 204.0.55.001 - Labour Force Historical Timeseries, Australia, February 2009 and 6291.0.55.001 Labour Force, Australia, Detailed - Electronic Delivery, Table 01. Labour force status by Social marital status, age and sex

Male Employment Participation Ratios

Proportion of all employed people in the production and services industries, 1966-2011

Source: ABS Australian Social Trends (Cat. no. 4102.0) and ABS Labour Force Historical Time Series, Australia cat. no. 6204.0.55.001), ABS Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003).

Employment by industry, Males and Females, aged 20-74, 2009-10 (%)

Source: ABS 4125.0 Gender Indicators, Australia, Jul 2011. Table 3 Employment by industry, 20-74 years, 2009-10.

Proportion of all employed people in the blue and white collar occupations, 1966-2011

Source: ABS Australian Social Trends (Cat. no. 4102.0) Dec 2011. Data source: ABS Labour Force Historical Timeseries, Australia (cat. no. 6204.0.55.001), ABS Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly (cat. no. 6291.0.55.003).

Employment by occupation, August 1996 and August 2012

Source: ABS (Cat No. 6291.0.55.003) Labour Force, Australia, Detailed, Quarterly Table 07 Employed Persons by Occupation and Sex

Highest educational attainment In the

labour force %

Not in the labour force

%

Total ‘000

Has a non-school qualification 86.2 13.8 8,393.5

Does not have a non-school qualification 68.9 31.1 6,454.6 Note: A non-school qualification refers to educational attainment other than those of primary or secondary education. Population: Civilian population aged 15 to 64 years. Source: ABS Education and work, Australia, May 2011, Cat no. 6227.0, Table 10.

Labour force participation and non-school educational qualifications, age 15-64, May 2011

Source: Kennedy, S. and Headley, D., 2003:34

Participation rates by age, educational attainment and gender

Figure 6 Participation rates of prime age males (25 to 54) by educational attainment, 1981–2006

Figure 7 Participation rates of prime age females (25 to 54) by educational attainment, 1981–2006

Source: ABS Census (2006) and AWPA.1

1Ibid.

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1981 1986 1991 2001 2006 40

50

60

70

80

90

100 Degree or higher

No post-school

Post-school

1996

% % % %

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

1981 1986 1991 1996 2001 2006 40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Degree or higher

No post-school

Post-school

Highest level of educational attainment

Employed full-time (%)

Employed part-time (%)

Unemployed (looking for work) (%)

Not in the labour force (%)

Postgraduate degree

66 20 2 11

Bachelors degree 65 20 3 12 Advanced diploma, Certificate IV, Certificate III.

61 20 3 16

Certificate II, Certificate I, other certificate

34 26 12 16

Year 12 48 27 5 20 Year 11 40 25 5 30 Year 10 41 23 6 30 Year 9 25 20 6 49 Year 8 25 11 5 59 Source: Table from Callander, E., Schofield, D., Shrestha, R., and Kelly, S. (2012) sufficient education attainment for a decent standard of living in modern Australia, Journal of Social Inclusion 3(1) 2012. Data source used is the 2003 Survey of Disability, Ageing and Carers.

Labour force status by highest level of education attainment, 15-64 year olds, living in households in 2003

Attainment of a vocational or higher education qualification, Males and Females

Age group (years)

1999 2009 Males Females Males Females

% % % % 15-19 3.6 5.0 6.3 9.2 20-24 38.6 43.3 41.0 48.0 25-34 56.0 49.9 66.8 70.4 35-44 58.5 47.6 67.3 61.4 45-54 55.6 41.4 64.3 58.0 55-64 47.5 28.3 61.6 46.5 Total 25-64 55.2 43.5 65.2 59.8 Total 15-64 47.9 39.5 56.4 53.6

Source: 1370.0 - Measures of Australia's Progress, 2010.(Data Source: ABS data available on request, 2009 Survey of Education and Work; ABS data available on request, 1999 Transition from Education to Work Survey.)

Male Average Employment-Population Ratios, 1976 and 1991

Source: Gregory, R and Hunter, B, (1995) ‘The macro economy and the growth of ghettos and urban poverty in Australia’, Discussion Paper No. 325, Economics Program, Research School of Social Sciences, Australian National University.

Highest qualification of reference person in household All Australian households Households in top decile 1995-96 2005-06 % change 1995-96 2005-06 % change Bachelor or above

12.6 20.6 8.0 32.2 49.7 17.5

Diploma 8.6 8.7 0.0 11.1 9.7 -1.4 Certificate 24.0 25.9 1.9 20.3 19.1 -1.2 No higher education

54.8 44.9 -9.9 36.5 21.5 -15.0

Highest level of qualification of reference person in household, all households and households in top decile

Source: Vu, Quoc Ngu, Harding, Anne and Percival, Richard (2008) A Growing Gap? Trends in Economic Wellbeing at the Top of the Spectrum in Australia, Paper prepared for the 30th General Conference of the International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, Portoroz, Slovenia, August 24-30, 2008.

Labour force region(1)

Full-time unemployment

rate (age 15–19)

Overall full-time

unemployment rate (15+)

Labour force participation

rate (15+)

Working age population (15–64)(2)

Inner Western Sydney, NSW 50.9% 3.4% 67.3% 134,300 Inner Melbourne, Vic 43.9% 5.0% 77.3% 264,900 Northern Adelaide, SA 42.3% 7.0% 60.9% 260,200 Far North, Qld 42.2% 9.4% 67.7% 187,900 Central Highlands-Wimmera, Vic 41.6% 4.9% 63.2% 149,500 North Western Melbourne, Vic 38.6% 4.2% 62.8% 221,300 Outer Western Melbourne, Vic 37.5% 6.9% 64.3% 491,700 Gippsland, Vic 33.2% 4.9% 61.2% 174,100 Central Western Sydney, NSW 33.0% 5.0% 61.6% 238,000 West Moreton, Qld 33.7% 7.0% 60.1% 56,500 North Eastern Melbourne, Vic 30.7% 5.2% 67.6% 333,000 Sunshine Coast, Qld 30.4% 7.2% 59.5% 213,400 Northern Region, Tas 24.6% 6.8% 61.2% 95,000 Northern-North West, Qld 24.0% 4.3% 66.7% 183,000

Southern and Eastern SA 23.0% 5.5% 64.7% 179,100 South West Metropolitan WA 20.6% 3.8% 70.2% 260,700

Selected full-time unemployment rates by age group and labour force region, August 2012

Source: DEEWR Labour Market Information Portal, from ABS Labour Force Survey. ABS Labour Force Survey estimates at the regional level, particularly for teenage unemployment, are subject to high levels of sampling error, and as such should be used with caution.

  Core skill requirements

Foundation skills

Certificate level qualifications

The role of community-based organisations

Training linked to a job Wrap around supporting services Collaborative training and employment models

Building Family Opportunities (BFO)