The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) has released its Education at a Glance 2024 report. The annual series of reports looks at educational attainment, access and equity measures across a range of developed countries, and charts their progress over time.
The report finds that:
- Adults without upper secondary qualification are at considerable risk of poor social and labour market outcomes throughout their lives.
- Workers without an upper secondary qualification are at risk of earning very low wages in most OECD countries.
- Strong labour markets and increasing participation in education have led to a decline in the share of 18-24 year-olds who are neither in employment nor in education or training (NEET) in most OECD member countries.
- Girls and women have better educational outcomes than boys and men, and in all OECD member countries, women aged 25-34 are as likely or more likely than their male peers to have a tertiary qualification; however, the picture is reversed when they enter the labour market.
- The likelihood of tertiary students successfully completing their studies depends on their family background.
In Australia, education levels improved as adults without upper secondary qualification decreased by 4 percentage points between 2016 and 2023. For comparison with other OECD countries, please refer to the table chart.
The OECD research also shows that in Australia, 66% of 25-34 year-olds without an upper secondary qualification are employed, compared to 84% of those with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary qualification. Further, 18-24 year-olds who are neither in employment nor in education or training decreased from 10.9% to 9.7%.
View the data from the OECD
