TREND TO MORE EDUCATION

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31761, 19 August 1968, Page 16

TREND TO MORE EDUCATION

The general trend to more education is showing up in New Zealand’s labour force, says the Government statistician (Mr J. V. T. Baker).

Statistics which show this resulted from the first New Zealand-wide survey of educational attendance, which was included as part of the 1966 census of population and dwellings. The figures show that nearly 71 per cent of males and slightly more than 79 per cent of females in New Zealand’s labour force attended secondary schools or universities for a year or more.

The trend to more education is shown by the lower proportion (53 per cent) of men aged 45 to 64 who received post-primary education, Mr Baker says. In the 25 to 44 age group the figure is 75 per cent, while in the smallei age span of 20 to 24 years the figure is 91 per cent.

The number of men who have attended university is also rising, 6.1 per cent of the 45-64 age group being compared with 8.6 per- cent of those in the 20-24 group. The same feature is apparent for women, but at lower proportionate ' levels of 3.7 per cent and 6.6 per cent. Although only 14 per cent of male workers are employed in the services industry, in this group are 55 per cent of those who have attended university. This group includes teachers, lawyers, doctors and accountants.

Primary industry is at the other end of the scale, with 17 per cent of the male work force, but only 7 per cent of those who attended university. The services industry has

40 per cent of the female work force, and 83 per cent of the women who attended university.

Nearly all occupation divisions show that more than half the workers have had at least some post-primary education, Mr Baker says. The highest proportion occurs in the professional and technical division, the lowest, among men in the small division of miners, quarrymen and related workers, and among women in the division of production and process workers.