Econometrics and Quantitative Skills in Australia: Trends, Evidence and Statistical Analysis, Review of Current Research and Statistical Evidence

Purpose: This paper examines the widening gap between Australia's demand for econometric and quantitative skills and the domestic pipeline that is meant to supply them, reviewing recent evidence on secondary mathematics participation, university economics enrolment, and labour-market demand for analytical capability.Methodology: The paper takes the form of a narrative and statistical review, synthesising administrative and survey data from the Australian Mathematical Sciences Institute's 2025 Year 12 participation report, Reserve Bank of Australia research using Universities Admissions Centre microdata and RBA speeches, Jobs and Skills Australia's national labour-market reporting, and recent Australian economics-education and subject-choice research.Findings: Year 12 participation in higher and intermediate mathematics has fallen to record lows (8.4% and 16.8% respectively in 2023), while HSC economics enrolments in NSW and the ACT fell from around 40,000 to around 15,000 candidates between 1992 and 2022, a considerably steeper relative decline than the mathematics trend. The gender composition of the remaining economics student population has shifted from close to parity to roughly two males for every female student, even as labour-market evidence points to sustained employer demand for analytical and data skills and persistent difficulty filling related roles.Implications: The evidence points to the need for coordinated, rather than piecemeal, intervention: strengthening economics and econometrics pathways within commerce and STEM degrees, sustaining encouragement throughout senior secondary schooling rather than at a single decision point, and evaluating the bridging unit’s universities have introduced after relaxing mathematics prerequisites. For research, national longitudinal data linking subject choice to labour-market outcomes, and closer integration between supply-side education data and demand-side labour-market data, would allow these interventions to be targeted more precisely.