The pie charts compare the proportion of Australian secondary school graduates who were unemployed, employed and pursuing education in 1980, 1990 and 2000.
Overall, the percentage of employed graduates increased significantly and emerged as the dominant category in 1990 and 2000. By contrast, the share of further education declined over the 20-year period and the unemployment accounted for the smallest share of total from 1980 to 2000.
In 1980, half of graduates from Australia’s secondary schools were students pursuing further education, while 40% of those were in employment and the remaining 10% were jobless graduates. In 1990, the proportion of employed students rose considerably, accounting for 50%. In contrast, higher education declined significantly by 12%, from 50% to 38%. The percentage of unemployed graduates went up gradually to 12% of the total.
In 2000, the share of employment continued to go up and remained the highest category. The proportion of graduates pursuing higher education decreased slightly to 37%, however, this figure was over four times as high as that of unemployment, at 8%. There was a slow decrease in the percentage of unemployed graduates, from 12% to 8%, remaining the smallest share of the total.