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283,000 students without a job
The number of students working while they study fell by 283,000 between May 2019 and May 2020, official data shows.

283,000 students without a job
The number of students working while they study fell by 283,000 between May 2019 and May 2020, official data shows.

Stats collated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) show the proportion of students aged between 15-64 who were employed fell from 54 to 50 per cent.
The survey also showed that 1.4 million people were studying at higher education institutions and just under half a million (475,000) were studying at technical and further education (TAFE) institutions.
ABS director of education and training statistics, Steven Nicholas, said this reflected a general drop in engagement in work and/or study between May 2019 and May 2020, with full-time engagement dropping from 66 per cent of people aged 15-64 in May 2019 to 63 per cent in May 2020.
“The decrease was mainly due to a fall in people working full-time, from 51 per cent to 49 per cent,” Mr Nicholas said.
“Due to fewer international students, there was also an overall decrease in people studying for a Certificate III or above.”
Young people were more likely to be not working or studying at all, rising from 11 per cent of people aged 20-24 years in May 2019 to 16 per cent this year.
“This was particularly noticeable for 20 to 24-year-olds, 41 per cent compared with 44 per cent in 2019, a drop of 66,100 students.”
“There was also a fall in apprentices, from 5 per cent of 15 to 24-year-olds in May 2019 to 4 per cent in May 2020,” Mr Nicholas concluded.
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