Advanced trade, technical and professional qualifications – matching supply to demand
There is a limited number of areas where it is clear that increasing the number of people with trade, technical or professional qualifications would definitely reduce skill shortages. These areas are in engineering, building and medical professions. Demand in these areas has been driven by increased use of technology, increased construction activity and increased demand for health services. In other areas examined in the report, improving the quality and relevance of qualifications is likely to be as important, or even more important, than increasing the number of people graduating.
This is report is the second in a series of three reports looking at the supply of and demand for advanced trade, technical and professional qualifications. The first report, looking at demand for qualifications is available on Education Counts.
Author: David Earle [Ministry of Education]Date Published: July 2008
2 - Methodology
2.1 Key question
The key question addressed in this report is which of the shortages identified in the first report could be addressed through an increased number of people attaining advanced trade, technical or professional qualifications. The report also considers whether the evidence about the link from qualifications to occupations confirms the assessment made in the first report.
2.2 Measures of relationship of qualifications to occupations
Three measures are used in this report to explore the relationship between field and level of tertiary qualification and occupation.
The first measure is the match of qualifications to occupations. This measure considers whether people with a qualification in a specific field of study are more or less likely to work in selected occupations than people with qualifications in other fields at the same level of study. A positive result in this measure suggests a strong relationship between the field of study and the occupation. A negative result shows that people with qualifications in that field are much less likely to work in the occupation. Where the result is close to the line, it means that the particular field of study doesn’t make much difference to whether a person works in that occupation or not.
The next measure is the unemployment rate for people with qualifications in a specific field compared with qualifications at the same level in other fields. This shows the relative value placed on the field of study in the labour market. Results are shown by both gender and age group.
Finally, incomes are examined. The income measure looks at the proportion of people earning above a specific figure. These figures have been chosen as being close to the overall median for the level of study.1 The measure gives an idea of whether people with a qualification in a specific field are more likely to earn above the given income level than people with the same level of qualification in another field. This measure shows whether there are premiums being paid for people with qualifications in the specific field of study.
2.3 Data source and limitations
All data used in this analysis comes from the 2006 Census of Population and Dwellings, unless otherwise stated. The census data provides information on the highest level of educational qualification attained. Both level and field of study are self-reported by way of a write-in question, which has then been coded to the official classifications. The same is true for occupation. The data in this report looks at the total working age population.
There are a few caveats that should be kept in mind when interpreting the results:
- There will be some degree of error in self-reporting and in the classification process, meaning that the data is not perfectly exact.
- Some of the older vocational qualifications do not easily map to the new system of qualification levels.
- Information is provided only on highest qualification, which can mask qualifications held in other fields at lower levels.
- While the census uses a common definition of unemployment (that is, not in work and actively seeking work), the rates can differ somewhat from other sources, such as the Household Labour Force Survey and the Ministry of Social Development’s unemployment register.
- People will build work experience over the period of their working lives that enables them to move into occupations other than those they originally qualified for.
These last two points are particularly relevant in considering the match of qualifications to occupations. Reasons for people working outside the occupation they are qualified in can include that they have a lower-level qualification in another field and/or that they have built sufficient work experience to move into a different occupation.
2.4 Percent difference
The results presented in this report are shown as percent difference. This is the percentage point difference between the proportion for the group of interest and the proportion for the comparison group noted below the graph.
As an example, Figure 4.1 shows that the proportion of people with a level 5 or 6 diploma in information technology working as physical, mathematical and engineering science professionals is almost 20 percentage points higher than the proportion for people with level 5 to 6 diplomas in other fields.
Footnote
- The choice of figures is constrained by the income bands used in the census data collection.