The number of people in Australia who were working while they were studying fell by 283,000 between May 2019 and May 2020, according to new data published yesterday by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.

The 2020 Survey of Education and Work collected information in the first two weeks of May, when nationwide Covid-19 restrictions were in place.  Between May 2019 and May 2020, the proportion of students aged 15-64 who were employed fell from 59% to 50%.

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% of people aged 15-64 in May 2019 to 63% in May 2020.

“The decrease was mainly due to a fall in people working full-time, from 51% to 49%," said Nicholas. 

There was also a fall in apprentices, from 5% of 15-24-year-olds in May 2019, to 4% in May 2020

Young people were more likely to be not working or studying at all, rising from 11% of people aged 20-24 years in May 2019 to 16% this year.

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.