Qualification levels help to evaluate the economic opportunities and socio-economic status of local workers in a particular industry.
The level of qualifications in a workforce relate to a number of factors including:
- The age of the workforce;
- The skill and qualification level required to enter an industry;
- The professional or working ambitions of people (to seek education as youth or retraining as adults);
- The opportunities afforded to people to continue studying beyond compulsory schooling.
Educational Qualification statistics should be looked at in conjunction with Field of qualification and Occupations data for a full education analysis for Tweed Shire.
Data source
Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) – Census 2016 & 2021 – by place of work
Current industry:
Current benchmark:
Sex:
Local workers qualifications | |||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tweed Shire - All industries | 2021 | 2016 | Change | ||||||
Qualification level | Number | % | New South Wales | Number | % | New South Wales | 2016 - 2021 | ||
Bachelor or Higher degree | 8,487 | 25.5 | 38.4 | 6,085 | 21.6 | 32.6 | +2,402 | ||
Advanced Diploma or Diploma | 3,859 | 11.6 | 11.0 | 3,211 | 11.4 | 11.1 | +648 | ||
Certificate I and II Level | 477 | 1.4 | 1.2 | 387 | 1.4 | 1.2 | +90 | ||
Certificate III & IV Level | 8,007 | 24.1 | 18.1 | 6,866 | 24.4 | 18.7 | +1,141 | ||
Certificate Level, nfd | 759 | 2.3 | 1.9 | 763 | 2.7 | 2.3 | -4 | ||
No qualification | 10,793 | 32.5 | 27.0 | 10,000 | 35.5 | 31.1 | +793 | ||
Inadequately described or not stated | 864 | 2.6 | 2.3 | 851 | 3.0 | 2.9 | +13 | ||
Total Persons | 33,246 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 28,163 | 100.0 | 100.0 | +5,083 | ||
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2016 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions) Please refer to specific data notes for more information |


Dominant groups
Analysis of the qualifications of the in Tweed Shire in 2021 compared to New South Wales shows that there was a lower proportion holding formal qualifications (Bachelor or higher degree; Advanced Diploma or Diploma; or Vocational qualifications), and a higher proportion with no formal qualifications.
Overall, 64.9% of the workers who held educational qualifications, and 32.5% had no qualifications, compared with 70.7% and 27.0% respectively for New South Wales.
The major differences between the qualifications held by the workforce of Tweed Shire and New South Wales were:
- A smaller percentage of local workers with Bachelor or Higher degree (25.5% compared to 38.4%)
- A larger percentage of local workers with Certificate III & IV Level (24.1% compared to 18.1%)
- A larger percentage of local workers with No qualification (32.5% compared to 27.0%)
- A larger percentage of local workers with Advanced Diploma or Diploma (11.6% compared to 11.0%)
Emerging groups
The largest changes in the qualifications held by the workforce in Tweed Shire between 2016 and 2021 were:
- Bachelor or Higher degree (+2,402 local workers)
- Certificate III & IV Level (+1,141 local workers)
- No qualification (+793 local workers)
- Advanced Diploma or Diploma (+648 local workers)