Educational attainment of the adult population

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Educational attainment of the adult population

Definition

The proportion of adults aged 25–64 years with an educational attainment of at least upper secondary school level, defined in the International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED 1997) as Level 3 and above, and including tertiary qualifications at bachelor’s degree and above (Level 5A/6).

Relevance

The educational attainment of the adult population is an indicator of the skills available in the economy. The level of formal educational qualifications in the population is a commonly used proxy for the stock of "human capital", ie the skills available in the population and labour force.

Current level and trends

In the year ended December 2006, 77 percent of the population aged 25–64 years (1.65 million people) had attained an educational qualification at upper secondary level or above, slightly lower than in 2005 (78 percent) but a substantial increase from 67 percent in 1991. Over the same period the proportion of adults with a bachelor’s degree or higher qualification had risen from 8 percent to almost 20 percent (418,000 people). The slight decline in educational qualifications at upper secondary level or above could be attributable in part to the strong labour market encouraging people into employment rather than into further education.

Figure K4.1 Proportion of adults aged 25–64 years with an educational attainment of at least upper secondary level and tertiary level, 1991–2006

Source: Statistics New Zealand, Household Labour Force Survey
Notes: (1) Tertiary equals bachelor’s degree or higher (2) This measure has been revised – see Appendix 2 for details

Age and sex differences

Younger adults aged 25–34 years are much more likely to have at least upper secondary school qualifications or a bachelor’s degree or higher than adults aged 55–64 years.

Sex differences in educational attainment have narrowed over time. For younger age groups, women are more likely than men to have higher qualifications.

Table K4.1 Proportion (%) of population aged 25–64 years with higher qualifications,by age and sex, 2006

	25–34	35–44	45–54	55–64	Total 25–64
At least upper secondary
Males	82.5	80.8	78.2	68.5	78.1
Females	85.0	80.8	75.4	60.0	76.4
Total	83.8	80.8	76.8	64.2	77.2
Tertiary
Males	22.5	20.8	18.5	15.2	19.5
Females	29.1	21.4	16.5	8.9	19.6
Total	25.9	21.1	17.4	12.0	19.5

Source: Statistics New Zealand, Household Labour Force Survey, December years
Notes: (1) Tertiary equals bachelor’s degree or higher (2) This measure has been revised – see Appendix 2 for details

Ethnic differences

Māori and Pacific adults are much less likely than adults in the European and Other ethnic groups to have higher qualifications. In the year ended December 2006, 61 percent of Māori and 54 percent of Pacific adults aged 25–64 years held at least upper secondary qualifications, compared with 80 percent of Europeans. Similarly, just 9 percent of Māori and 7 percent of Pacific adults held a tertiary qualification at bachelor’s degree level or above, compared with 19 percent of Europeans. The proportion of adults with at least upper secondary qualifications grew faster for Māori and Pacific adults than for Europeans up to 2003, but fell in the three years to 2006. The Other ethnic group (which includes Asians) has consistently had the highest proportion of adults with a tertiary qualification, more than double that of the European ethnic group.

Table K4.2 Proportion (%) of population aged 25–64 years with higher qualifications, by ethnic group, selected years, 1996–2006

	European	Māori	Pacific peoples	Other	Total
At least upper secondary
1996	75.3	48.4	45.1	79.4	71.8
2001	78.8	59.9	65.8	85.1	76.8
2005	80.6	62.4	55.3	81.6	77.8
2006	80.1	60.7	53.5	83.5	77.2
Tertiary
1996	10.8	2.5	1.9	27.4	10.6
2001	13.2	5.0	5.6	32.0	13.4
2005	18.6	8.1	7.0	42.1	19.5
2006	18.9	8.5	7.1	39.0	19.5

Source: Statistics New Zealand, Household Labour Force Survey, December years
Notes: (1) In this data, Other includes Asian ethnic groups (2) Tertiary equals bachelor’s degree or higher (3) This measure has been revised – see Appendix 2 for details

International comparison

In 2004, 78 percent of New Zealand adults had at least upper secondary level qualifications, compared with an OECD average of 67 percent.⁴⁵ New Zealand ranked 12th equal (with Finland) out of 30 OECD countries. New Zealand also ranked 12th equal (with Switzerland and Ireland) in the proportion of adults who have bachelor’s degrees or higher, with a rate of 18 percent (just below the OECD average of 19 percent). Countries which had higher proportions of adults with qualifications at this level included the United States (30 percent – the highest rate), Canada and Australia (each 22 percent), and the United Kingdom (20 percent). New Zealand is among the two-thirds of OECD countries in which females aged 25–34 years are more likely than males of that age to have tertiary qualifications to bachelor’s degree or higher.

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