Improving Participation – DSF Report
Report from BCA and DSF published. Anyone interested in the question of youth participation in education and training is sure to be interested in this latest report from Access Economics, jointly commissioned by the Business Council of Australia (BCA) and the Dusseldorp Skills Forum (DSF).
The Dusseldorp Skills Forum commissioned Access Economics to test the merits of the economic case for increased policy emphasis on youth participation specifically in relation to the Government’s own work on inter-generational issues.
Their findings are documented in The Economic Benefit of Increased Participation in Education and Training.
While the study is based on detailed economic modeling, the report itself is very accessible. Its clear language and explanations open the door to some very important findings.
By way of example, the research found that the effect of increasing school and training retention rates among 15-24 year-olds from the current 80 per cent mark to 90 per cent would:
- have the same positive impact on the economy as increasing Australia’s total migrant intake by 180,000 over the period to 2040;
- have a similar economic impact as increasing the workforce participation rates of older workers by 6.6 percentage points – from nearly 53 percent to 59.5 percent; and
- boost annual GDP by 1.1 per cent (equivalent to $9.2 billion in today’s money) by 2040 – representing an extra $500 a year per Australian in today’s money.
This report advances the analysis and modeling of the information used in the Treasury Working Paper: A Note on Educational Attainment and Labour Force Participation in Australia and The Intergenerational Report 2002-03.
Accompanying the Access report is a brief policy paper from the BCA and the Forum putting several suggestions forward in the light of the report’s findings.
The Economic Benefit of Increased Participation in Education and Training and the accompanying policy paper are both available online at
http://www.dsf.org.au or http://www.bca.com.au.
