Australia stands to be $100 billion richer and have 500,000 more people in work each year if the Rudd government meets all of its long-term educational goals, Julia Gillard says.
The Education Minister has released external modelling assessing the economic impact of education reform on the country by the year 2040.
"The modelling shows that by 2040 if we achieve these goals, the national economy will be better off by more than $100 billion a year on average," she said during an address to the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday.
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"And more than 500,000 people in work in every one of those years, compared to the base line of what would otherwise happen."
The government has set out a list of stated aims it wants to meet by the year 2040.
It includes a system of paid parental leave, an increase to the childcare rebate to 50 per cent and outcomes from early childhood programs.
By the year 2015, it wants 90 per cent of the population to have completed year 12, and 40 per cent to have completed a university degree by 2025.
Ms Gillard also hopes to halve the proportion of 20- to 64-year-olds without Certificate III qualifications.
The KPMG EconTech modelling, commissioned by the government, showed there were huge potential gains if the government succeeds, Ms Gillard said.
Lack of education is hurting the life chances of Australians today," Ms Gillard said.
"In the future, lack of skills and qualifications will harm individuals even more, with around 60 per cent of new jobs projected to need higher levels of skills."
So it was more important than ever to succeed on educational reform.
Econtech's modelling suggests the following by 2040:
- Parental leave will lead to an average rise of 1.9 per cent to baseline gross domestic product (GDP), and one per cent to employment, or more than $1200 per person every year;
- The childcare rebate will boost the economy by $3.5 billion annually;
- Early childcare reform will add $9.9 billion each year; and,
- Educational goals will deliver around $11.3 billion per year.
Ms Gillard noted the report did not assess if the reforms would, in fact, be successful or the cost of delivering them.
