Shaping the Future: Connecting Career Development and Workforce Development--Australia Country Paper‪.‬

Australia is a continent of 7.69 million [km.sup.2] with a population approaching 21 million people. Twenty-four per cent of Australians were born overseas; 80 per cent live within 100 km of the coast and 67 per cent are urban dwellers. Fifty-five per cent of Australians between the age of 25 and 64 years have a vocational or higher education qualification. Half of the workforce in 2003 4 was in the 45-64 age range, up from 24 per cent a decade earlier. The unemployment rate is 5.2 per cent and the workforce participation rate 63.3 per cent. Constitutionally, Australia has a federal structure, with major governmental responsibilities divided between the federal, six state and two territory governments. There are also 673 local governments across the nation that have responsibility for local planning and the provision of services such as libraries. The states and territories have primary responsibility for education and training with additional funding provided by the federal government, whereas public employment policy and service provision is a federal responsibility. This includes social welfare policy.