The pie charts compare the proportion of post-secondary school activities of Australian school leavers in 1980, 1990, and 2000.
Overall, the proportion of students pursuing further education witnessed a gradual decline over the surveyed period, while the opposite was true for the percentage of individuals employed. A notable shift occurred in the ranking of these two categories: in 1980, further education was more popular than employment, whereas in 1990, employment accounted for the largest share among the categories.
In 1980, half of the school leavers (50%) opted for further education, making it the most popular option. Employment was the second most frequent option, at 40%. Meanwhile, only one-tenth of students (10%) were unemployed in 1980.
Over the following two decades, the trends diverged. Further education became less popular, with its proportion falling from 50% to 37% between 1980 and 2000. In contrast, the percentage of employed school leavers rose from 40% in 1980 to 50% in 1990 and reached 55% by 2000, thereby surpassing the proportion of school leavers pursuing further education. At the same time, the proportion of unemployed school leavers fluctuated, rising from 10% to 12% by 1990 before falling to just 8% in 2000.