Benefits of educational attainment

There have been decades of international qualitative and quantitative research that demonstrate the positive benefits of education. Additional educational attainment develops higher skills, leading to higher rates of employment, higher productivity and higher lifetime earnings for individuals. The primary argument in justifying government investment in education has historically been based on these positive labour market and economic returns. However, education can also provide broader benefits for Australian society such as increased community engagement, improved family and child...  [+] Show more

There have been decades of international qualitative and quantitative research that demonstrate the positive benefits of education. Additional educational attainment develops higher skills, leading to higher rates of employment, higher productivity and higher lifetime earnings for individuals. The primary argument in justifying government investment in education has historically been based on these positive labour market and economic returns. However, education can also provide broader benefits for Australian society such as increased community engagement, improved family and child health and well-being, reduced tax burden for public services, a cleaner environment and reduced crime. Even after controlling for increases in income education still affects these social outcomes. While policy makers and researchers implicitly understand many of these impacts, this series of factsheets allows us to understand the size or weight of each of these impacts.

Edited excerpt from publication.

The factsheets are: Introduction; benefits of educational attainment; Business management practice; Civic engagement, tolerance and trust; Employment and income support; Environmental conservation and advocacy; Financial stress; Healthy behaviour; Income; Voluntary work and donations; Wealth; and Appendix.