Jobs and Skills Australia (JSA) has today released its latest VNDA data and report assessing VET graduate outcomes. The report – called Strong and Responsive VET Pathways: 2019-20 graduate outcomes from the VET National Data Asset – provides insights on domestic, non-school students who completed a nationally recognised VET qualification in the 2019-20 financial year.
The analysis provided in the report explores the economic, employment and further study outcomes for VET graduates following course completion.
The report’s key findings highlight the benefits of completing a VET qualification, including for First Nations and female graduates and graduates with a disability. Among the most important were the following outcomes for VET graduate completers:
- Incomes rising: VET graduates saw a median income uplift of $11,800 per annum and median employee income of $48,500 per annum. First Nations VET graduates saw an even better result with a median income uplift of $13,000. What’s more, reliance on income support dropped by 39 percentage point two years after course completion
- Employment gains: Nationally, 84% of VET graduates are employed after completing their qualification, a 15-percentage point increase from before they enrol. Female VET graduates saw a greater bump with a 17-percentage point increase between before enrolment and post-completion. 62% of graduates who were not previously employed prior to study were employed in the year following completion
- Further education enrolments: A greater proportion of VET graduates who are First Nations peoples (20%), female (18%), and people with disability (21%) progressed to higher-level VET study compared with the national rate of 16%. The proportion of female graduates (10%) that progressed to higher education was slightly higher than the national figure (8%)
- Regional success: VET graduates in regional and remote areas outpaced their city counterparts in income growth, receiving $12,900 and $12,700 respectively compared to $11,500 for those in cities
- Top-performing fields: cohorts with the highest median income uplifts were apprentices and trainees with an increase of $25,800 and graduate diploma/certificate completers with an uplift of $23,700.
The report demonstrates the value of JSA’s integrated data analysis for individuals, employers and training and education providers. The Vocational Education and Training National Data Asset (VNDA) is a collaborative project between Jobs and Skills Australia and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. The next report from VNDA will be a deep dive into occupation outcomes for VET graduates.
