This stuff is not top of mind at the moment, of course. But let’s take a look at what NCVER’s data says about this issue.
Overall 69% of international onshore qualification completers undertook training for employment related reasons, nearly 27% for personal reasons, and 4.2% for further study reasons.
A range of reports
NCVER has published a report and information on this topic, including a report on completer outcomes, and an infographic. You can also access a set of summary Excel tables that enable you to investigate the data more specifically as well as through a set of data visualisations.
What was found? Outcomes were down!
The data reports that outcomes were down. In 2020, nearly 54% of international onshore qualification completers had an improved employment status after training, but this was down 4 percentage points from 2019. About 72% of international onshore qualification completers were employed before training. The survey found that, of these:
- Around 11% were employed at a higher skill level after training, down 3.6 percentage points from 2019
- 26.5% were employed in a better job after training, down 9.2 percentage points from 2019, and
- About 28% of international onshore qualification completers were not employed before training. Of these, about 49% were employed after training, and this was up 4.6 percentage points from 2019.
It also found that, in total, nearly 65% of international onshore qualification completers were employed after training, down 4.2 percentage points from 2019 and about 61% were employed in Australia, while about 4% were employed in another country.
In 2020, 14.4% of international onshore qualification completers were employed after training in the same occupation as their qualification, down 1.5 percentage points from 2019. A further 28% were employed in a different occupation but found the training relevant to their current job, and this was similar to findings for 2019.
The pandemic had an effect
As NCVER ‘s media release suggests, the survey found that the top two reasons for enrolling in a VET qualification in Australia were to develop or start their own business and to improve their general education skills.
In all, nearly 88% achieved their main reason for training. And that’s a plus, but on the downside, the survey showed the COVID-19 pandemic affected international onshore VET qualification completers in many ways, and of those employed in mid-2020:
- About 68% had their hours reduced because of the pandemic
- 24% were temporarily stood down because of the pandemic, and
- Of those who didn’t have a job in mid-2020, about 50% had a job previously that they lost due to the pandemic.
Finally, of those who looked for work after training, just over 60% cited a lack of jobs due to the pandemic as a barrier to finding a job.
Barriers to employment
Principal amongst these were:
- A lack of jobs due to COVID-19 (60.6%),
- International students did not have a required permanent residency/work visa (36.5%),
- They had insufficient work experience (21.6%),
- They did not know where to look for jobs (14.2%), and
- There was a lack of jobs in their field of study (13.9%).
