United nations hri

Participation in higher education by gender, 1991-200430

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Participation in higher education by gender, 1991-2004^³⁰

Source: DEST: Selected Higher Education Statistics, various years.

85. Graph 15 below shows the growth in participation rates in higher education of women in non-traditional areas, students from low SES backgrounds, students from a LBOTE, students with a disability, Indigenous students and rural and isolated students.

Graph 15

Growth in higher education student numbers
by equity group (1995-2004)

Source: DEST 2005.

* 1996 data is used instead of 1995 as disability status is only

available from 1996 onwards.

86. Table 24 below shows the participation rates in VTE of male, female, urban, rural, remote, overseas, Indigenous and disabled students.

Table 24

Participation in vocational and technical education (VTE) by client groups, 2001 and 2005

	2001		2005
	Number of students (‘000)	Share of VTE	Number of students (‘000)	Share of VTE
Sex
Males	857.3	51.1%	847.7	51.6%
Females	814.6	48.5%	789.5	48.1%
Geographic region
Major Cities*	915.0	54.5%	888.1	54.1%
Regional*	620.6	37.0%	623.1	37.9%
Remote*	47.9	2.9%	43.8	2.7%
Very Remote*	35.2	2.1%	31.1	1.9%
Indigenous	56.1	3.3%	62.7	3.8%
Students with a disability	68.5	4.1%	96.3	5.9%
TOTAL	1 679.1		1 641.3

Source: NCVER (2006).

* Access/Remoteness Index of Australia (ARIA).

Rate of unemployment

87. Two important measures of unemployment are the number of persons unemployed and the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate, defined as the number of unemployed persons expressed as a percentage of the labour force, offers an insight into the degree of slack in the labour market.

88. Movements in the unemployment rate over the past 20 years are dominated by the recessions of the early-1980s and early-1990s, and the subsequent periods of economic recovery. In trend terms, the unemployment rate peaked at 10.7 per cent in December 1992, then generally fell over the rest of the 1990s and early-2000s, and was 4.9 per cent in June 2006.

89. Prior to 1990, the unemployment rate for men was lower than for women. However, as the unemployment rate increased sharply in 1990-91, the male unemployment rate increased to a level above the female unemployment rate. Since May 2003, this has reversed and the female unemployment rate has been slightly higher than the male unemployment rate.

Graph 16

Unemployment rate: trend estimates

90. As Graph 17 below shows, the number of unemployed people has generally declined from the levels recorded in the early-1990s. For the unemployed seeking full-time work, the trend has generally reflected the overall impact of the economic cycle. In contrast, over the past two decades, the trend for those seeking part-time work has generally increased steadily, rising from 102,200 people (or 17 per cent of unemployed people) in June 1986 to 158,900 people (or 30 per cent of unemployed people) in June 2006.

Graph 17

Unemployed persons: trend estimates

Employment by sectors

91. The distribution of employed people across industries and occupations, and the changes over time, provide an important insight into the structure of the labour market. Graph 18 below shows the proportion of employed people, by industry, for the years 1989-90 and 2004-05.

92. Since 1989-90, the industry composition of the labour market has changed considerably. Historically, the manufacturing industry has been the largest employing industry, but its contribution to the number of employed people has been declining. As recently as 1990-91, the manufacturing industry was the largest employer. However, in 2004-05, it is third to the retail trade and the property and business services industries, which have 15 per cent and 12 per cent of employed people respectively. Manufacturing has fallen from 15 per cent of all employed people in 1989-90 to 11 per cent in 2004-05. Employment in other traditional commodity-based industries, such as the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry, and mining has also fallen over this period.

93. Over the period 1989-90 to 2004-05, service-based industries have increased their share of employed people and now include the two largest industries. The increase was greatest for the property and business services industry (from 8 per cent to 12 per cent) while health and community services has risen from 8 per cent to 10 per cent, accommodation, cafes and restaurants from 4 per cent to 5 per cent, and retail trade from 14 per cent to 15 per cent.

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