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Data definitions and limitations:
‘Employment rate post completion’ is defined as the percentage of domestic VET graduates who earned any employee income in financial year 2020-21 after completing a VET qualification in 2019-20.
It is important to note that this definition captures employment in any occupation, full-time or part-time and does not include self-employment or unpaid work. The employment is not necessarily in an occupation associated with the skills acquired from the completed VET qualification.
This analysis also presents the employment rates in the financial year prior to enrolment. This allows for an observation of the change in employment rate prior to study and following completion.
Please note that for the purpose of this report, the terms ‘employed’ and ‘not employed’ refer specifically to whether a student did or did not earn any employee income in the financial year in question.
Improved employment rates after training
There was an uplift in employment rates across all cohorts, with an uplift of 15 percentage points nationally to 84% in the year following qualification completion.
The largest uplift in employment rates were generally in cohorts that had lower employment rates prior to enrolment. The groups with the largest uplift in employment rates following VET completion were:
- those who were not employed in the year prior to enrolment (uplift of 62 percentage points)
- those aged under 20 (uplift of 37 percentage points)
- those who had not completed year 12 or previously completed a Certificate III or higher qualification (uplift of 20 percentage points).
Employment rate by age group
Figure 2.1 shows how employment rates vary according to age group. The largest uplift in employment rates were for graduates aged under 20 with an uplift in their employment rate of 37 percentage points to 82% in the year following completion. While positive, this outcome is somewhat expected for young graduates who are entering their first jobs.
The employment rate peaks in the 20-24 age group, with 88% of graduates employed in the year following completion, an increase of 15 percentage points compared to the year prior to enrolment. The high rate of employment in this age group may also be driven by the high percentage of apprentices and trainees in this age group (32% compared to 15% overall). As figure 2.5 shows, apprentices and trainees have an employment rate 13 percentage points higher than non-apprentices and trainees.
Source: Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA), 2002 – 2022, VET National Data Asset, ABS DataLab. Findings based on use of PLIDA data.
Employment rate by AQF Level
Figure 2.2 shows that higher AQF levels are generally associated with higher rates of employment, with Graduate Diploma and Graduate Certificate completers having the highest employment rate after graduation (92%). Certificate I, II and III graduates all had substantial uplifts in employment rate (between 17 and 21percentage points). Advanced Diploma graduates were below the trend with a post completion employment rate of 83%. However, as discussed in the section on further study outcomes, this may in part be due to the large percentage of Advanced Diploma graduates progressing to higher education (22% compared to 8% overall).
Source: Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA), 2002 – 2022, VET National Data Asset, ABS DataLab. Findings based on use of PLIDA data.
Employment rates for priority cohorts
Figure 2.3 shows the employment figures for priority cohorts. The employment rate of females was 7 percentage points lower than males prior to enrolment (66% compared to 73%) but this gap closed to 2 percentage points following completion (83% compared to 85%), with an uplift in female employment rate of 17 percentage points.
The employment rate of First Nations graduates was 7 percentage points lower than non-Indigenous graduates prior to enrolment (63% compared to 70%), and this gap reduced to 5 percentage points following completion (79% vs 84%), with an uplift in employment rate of 16 percentage points.
Graduates with disability had an employment rate 20 percentage points lower than graduates without disability in the year prior to enrolment (51% compared to 71%). Following completion, graduates with disability improved their employment rate by 14 percentage points to 65%. However, the gap in employment rates between graduates with and without disability remained unchanged at 20 percentage points (65% compared to 85%) after course completion.
Source: Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA), 2002 – 2022, VET National Data Asset, ABS DataLab. Findings based on use of PLIDA data.
Employment rate by location
Figure 2.4 shows the employment rate by graduates’ location. Graduates in major cities had the largest uplift in employment rate (16 percentage points, compared to 13 percentage points for regional graduates and 8 percentage points for remote graduates). However, graduates in regional and remote areas had higher rates of employment post completion (87% and 88% respectively, compared to 83% for graduates in major cities).
Source: Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA), 2002 – 2022, VET National Data Asset, ABS DataLab. Findings based on use of PLIDA data.
Employment rate by select student characteristics
Almost one third (31%) of the 2019-20 graduates were not employed prior to enrolment. Figure 2.5 shows that following qualification completion, 62% of these graduates were employed. This figure also demonstrates that 7% of graduates who were employed prior to enrolment were not in employment in the year following completion. This may be due to graduates moving into further study or out of the workforce for child rearing or other responsibilities.
Apprentices and trainees had the highest rate of employment after completion than all other cohorts examined, with a 95% employment rate. In comparison, graduates who were not apprentices or trainees had a post completion employment rate of 82%.
Graduates who had completed year 12, or a Certificate III or higher qualification prior to enrolment had an employment rate of 86% after completion, up 12 percentage points since prior to enrolment. In comparison, graduates who did not have these qualifications prior to enrolment, had a lower employment rate after completion (78%) but had a larger increase in their employment rate (up 20 percentage points since prior to enrolment).
Source: Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA), 2002 – 2022, VET National Data Asset, ABS DataLab. Findings based on use of PLIDA data.
*Apprentice/trainee status is allocated to students who for their first subject, were enrolled as an apprentice or trainee. Otherwise, the student is categorised as a ‘Not apprentice/trainee.’
