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Australia

Disengagement by age

In 2021, 9.7% of 15 to 24 year olds in Australia were disengaged with employment and education, compared to 41.8% in Regional NT.

Engagement in employment and education looks at the level of participation by age and sex of the population in the labour market, or full or part-time education. A full time employed or full-time student would be "Fully engaged", while part-time students may be fully engaged if they are also employed, or partly engaged if they are not working. Engagement in the labour and education market is highly dependent on age. Retirees are generally disengaged, while stay-at-home parents are also likely to be disengaged. The rate of engagement, particularly in the younger and working age groups can be affected by access to strong employment and education markets and is a measure of socio-economic status and the level of welfare dependency in an area. For more detail on employment and educational characteristics associated with disengagement, please look at Employment Status, Qualifications and Educational Institution Attending.

Further reading: Using demographics to inform gender equality

Q:

Derived from the two Census questions:

'Last week did the person have a full time or part time job of any kind?' and 'What type of educational institution is the person attending?'

Workforce and educational engagement by age
Australia - Males aged 15+ (Usual residence)20212011Change
Age groupEngagement statusNumber%Regional NT %Number%Regional NT %2011 to 2021
15 to 24 yearsFully engaged1,126,61072.437.71,091,34374.645.5+35,267
15 to 24 yearsPartially engaged187,20012.08.9150,20510.311.2+36,995
15 to 24 yearsDisengaged150,8209.741.8129,0748.830.8+21,746
15 to 24 yearsUndetermined/Not stated91,5395.911.692,8796.312.4-1,340
15 to 24 yearsTotal1,556,169100.0100.01,463,501100.0100.0+92,668
25 to 54 yearsFully engaged3,309,83764.943.73,085,17269.750.2+224,665
25 to 54 yearsPartially engaged821,44916.111.0576,41813.014.6+245,031
25 to 54 yearsDisengaged614,26212.131.3473,85510.722.1+140,407
25 to 54 yearsUndetermined/Not stated351,4636.914.1293,0686.613.1+58,395
25 to 54 yearsTotal5,097,011100.0100.04,428,513100.0100.0+668,498
55 to 64 yearsFully engaged693,50847.344.1595,11248.249.7+98,396
55 to 64 yearsPartially engaged275,04218.813.1208,17416.813.3+66,868
55 to 64 yearsDisengaged411,89028.129.2360,47229.225.7+51,418
55 to 64 yearsUndetermined/Not stated84,9815.813.671,9745.811.4+13,007
55 to 64 yearsTotal1,465,421100.0100.01,235,732100.0100.0+229,689
65 years and overFully engaged171,2988.417.7104,4057.617.8+66,893
65 years and overPartially engaged187,4529.29.7111,6798.110.3+75,773
65 years and overDisengaged1,526,91774.759.11,020,72174.057.1+506,196
65 years and overUndetermined/Not stated157,0547.713.5141,62410.314.8+15,430
65 years and overTotal2,042,721100.0100.01,378,429100.0100.0+664,292
Total aged 15+Fully engaged5,301,25352.240.04,876,03257.347.0+425,221
Total aged 15+Partially engaged1,471,14314.510.71,046,47612.313.5+424,667
Total aged 15+Disengaged2,703,88926.635.81,984,12223.326.7+719,767
Total aged 15+Undetermined/Not stated685,0376.713.5599,5457.012.8+85,492
Total aged 15+Total10,161,322100.0100.08,506,175100.0100.0+1,655,147
Source: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Census of Population and Housing 2011 and 2021. Compiled and presented by .id (informed decisions).
Please refer to specific data notes for more information

Dominant groups

The number of people aged 15 to 24 years in Australia in 2016 was 1,556,169, of this, 9.7% were disengaged and 12.0% were partially engaged, compared to 41.8% and 8.9% respectively for Regional NT.

Emerging groups

Between 2011 and 2021, the number of people 15 to 24 years in Australia showed an increase of 92,668.

The number of disengaged people aged 15 to 24 years showed an increase of 21,746 or 16.8%.

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