The OECD has released its Education at a Glance 2026 report this month, focusing on teaching shortages and the teaching profession in the world’s most developed economies. The report also provides a broader picture of educational attainment, participation in lifelong learning and labour market outcomes across OECD member countries and partner economies.
Insights from this year's report show that:
- Young men aged 25-34 are more likely than young women to lack an upper secondary qualification, averaging 14% and 11% respectively across OECD countries.
- Qualifications completed through vocational pathways at the upper secondary level are less likely to be the highest qualification held by younger adults than by older generations. Across OECD countries, 25% of adults aged 55-64 hold such qualifications as their highest level of attainment, compared with 19% of adults aged 25-34.
- Lower literacy proficiency is strongly associated with a greater likelihood of being not in employment, education or training (NEET).
- On average, 49% of employed adults participate in non-formal learning across the OECD. This falls to 34% among unemployed adults and just 17% among those outside the labour force.
- Participation in learning is closely linked to both educational attainment and workforce engagement, with lower-skilled and disengaged adults significantly less likely to undertake further learning.
- Sixty-one per cent of young adults who completed their highest qualification within the past five years have participated in non-formal learning, compared with 46% of those whose highest qualification was earned more than five years ago.
- Employers are most likely to provide continuing vocational training in technical or job-specific skills, followed by management and organisational skills and other skills. At the same time, workers most frequently identify digital, managerial, organisational and interpersonal skills as areas where they require further development.
- On average across the OECD, bachelor's degree graduates earn 43% more than adults whose highest qualification is upper secondary education, while master's, doctoral and equivalent graduates earn 89% more.
Education at a Glance 2026: Australia
Country note
- The share of young Australians without an upper secondary qualification has fallen substantially over the past decade, declining from 12% in 2015 to 7% in 2025 among 25-34 year-olds.
- Youth disengagement remains below the OECD average. In 2025, 10% of Australians aged 18-24 were not in employment, education or training (NEET), compared with an OECD average of 13%.
- Fewer younger Australians hold vocational qualifications as their highest level of attainment. In 2025, 12% of Australians aged 25-34 had upper secondary vocational attainment as their highest qualification, compared with 15% of Australians aged 55-64.
- Australia invests more in education than the OECD average. Government expenditure on primary to tertiary education equalled 4.1% of GDP in 2023, compared with an OECD average of 4.0%, while private expenditure equalled 1.4% of GDP, more than double the OECD average of 0.6%.
You can access Australia’s report here or download the full report here.
