Graduate Careers Australia
The Graduate Grapevine - Number 5, September 2006
GCA Releases 2005 Australian Graduate Survey Reports
Each year, Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) surveys all new graduates of Australian higher education institutions regarding their activities after study. These include their employment, further study and labour market activities.
The five reports released by GCA this year (Graduate Destinations 2005, Graduate Salaries 2005, Graduate Course Experience 2005, Postgraduate Destinations 2005 and Postgraduate Research Experience 2005) paint a positive picture for Higher Education graduates in Australia.
All reports are based on the annual national Australian Graduate Survey (AGS) of new graduates from institutions of Higher Education. The 2005 AGS gathered 110,707 responses from a total of 198,003 recent graduates.
Graduate Destinations 2005
Graduate Destinations 2005 confirms the preliminary graduate employment figures released last December which showed that, of new bachelor degree graduates who were seeking full-time employment, 80.9 per cent had found it within four months of completing their studies. A further 12.3 per cent were working on a part-time or casual basis while still seeking full-time employment and 6.9 per cent were not working and seeking full-time employment.
GCA research demonstrates that Higher Education graduates have a notable labour market advantage. In addition, the most recently available Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data (May 2005) show that just 2.7 per cent of those in the general population with bachelor degrees were unemployed compared with 4.2 per cent for persons with non-school qualifications below bachelor degree level and 7.5 per cent for persons with no non-school qualifications.
How did they find work?
Graduate Destinations 2005 examines the mix of methods that graduates use to seek work. The most commonly used, by far, were internet-based job searches (67.4 per cent of all job-seeking graduates) and media advertisements (64.2 per cent). These two methods were also the most commonly cited by those who had found full-time employment (65.8 per cent and 61.6 per cent respectively).
The picture changed slightly when graduates in full-time employment were asked how they had found the job they were in at the time of the survey. Internet-based job searches (16.2 per cent) and media advertisements (15.4 per cent) were most often named as the means by which graduates had found their full-time employment. However, these methods were followed by those who had enjoyed the help of family or friends (12.1 per cent) and those who had approached employers directly (11.2 per cent).
What about part-time work?
As with the wider population, part-time employment for graduates is a common work option.
Graduates categorised as being in part-time employment in the AGS form two different categories. There are graduates in part-time or casual employment who are not seeking full-time employment and graduates who are in part-time or casual employment who are seeking full-time employment.
- Respondents working on a part-time basis while seeking full-time employment were far less likely to see their employment as being permanent (ie. likely to last more than 12 months) than those who were not seeking full-time employment (26.4 per cent and 48.5 per cent respectively).
- The median annual salary for respondents in part-time employment while seeking full-time employment was $20,000 while for respondents who were in part-time employment and were not seeking full-time employment it was higher, at $22,000. In comparison, the median annual salary (not a starting salary) for all bachelor degree graduates in full-time employment was $40,000.
- The two groups also differed in terms of further part-time study, with those not seeking full-time work (17.8 per cent) being much more likely to also be in part-time study than those seeking full-time work (7.9 per cent).
Graduate Course Experience 2005
Graduate Course Experience 2005, which reports on the learning experiences of Higher Education graduates, shows that 89.8 per cent of bachelor degree graduates were broadly satisfied with their overall study experience.
Graduate Salaries 2005
The Graduate Salaries 2005 report shows that the starting salary for females ($39,000) was 97.5 per cent of males’ earnings ($40,000), the highest relativity recorded since 1977.
New bachelor degree graduates aged less than 25 and in their first full-time employment were paid a median annual starting salary of $40,000. This changed slightly for other groups. For example, new bachelor degree graduates aged over 25 and in their first full-time employment earned $42,000 ($43,000 for males and $40,100 for females).
New bachelor degree graduates aged over 25 and who had previous full-time employment earned $43,000 ($45,500 for males and $42,000 for females).
No matter what level of experience, these graduates were paid higher salaries than all 20-24 year olds in the Australian population, who received $33,900 ($35,400 for males and $33,800 for females).
These figures suggest that employers are willing to pay a premium (however slight in some cases) for age, training and experience.
Geographically, new graduates aged less than 25 and in their first full-time employment in regional areas earned marginally more than their cohorts employed in capital cities across Australia ($40,000 compared with $39,500). The difference in starting salaries between the two groups was as pronounced as $11,000 when examined within fields of education. Dentistry graduates earned the highest median salary ($65,000), followed by graduates in Optometry ($52,000) and Medicine ($50,000).
Postgraduate Destinations 2005
Postgraduate Destinations 2005 is based on the 27,500 responses by postgraduates to the AGS. These include people with graduate and postgraduate certificates and diplomas, coursework masters and research masters degrees, professional doctorates and PhDs.
Key points: employment
Key points noted in the Postgraduate Destinations 2005 report include:
- Of those available for full-time employment, 88.8 per cent of postgraduate respondents were working full-time at the time of the survey (this is up by 0.7 of a percentage point on the 2004 figure). Postgraduates were far more likely to have been in full-time employment than bachelor degree graduates (80.9 per cent). While bachelor degree outcomes are an interesting point of reference, it is worth noting that postgraduates are, as a group, older and more experienced and would be expected to have higher employment figures.
- Employment figures for various levels of postgraduate award can differ markedly. There are broad differences in the nature of postgraduate qualifications, with coursework degrees such as graduate and postgraduate certificates and diplomas, and coursework masters degrees, often being favoured by those already in employment or those active in the labour market. Research degrees such as PhDs and research masters qualifications are often favoured by those furthering a research interest developed in their undergraduate years.
- Of those available for full-time employment with PhDs and research masters qualifications, 87.1 per cent were in a full-time job. For coursework masters graduates, the figure was 88.5 per cent and for those with graduate and postgraduate certificates and diplomas it was 89.5 per cent.
- At a broader level, the most recently published unemployment figures looking at the Australian population (people aged 15-64) as a whole (collected by the ABS in May 2005) show that 3.3 per cent of those with a postgraduate degree (masters or doctorate) were unemployed, compared with 2.8 per cent of those with a graduate diploma or graduate certificate, and 2.8 per cent of bachelor degree graduates. Of those who had not completed a post-secondary education, 8.1 per cent were unemployed. The same figure for the population as a whole was 5.5 per cent.
Key points: salaries and further study
- The median salary for postgraduates responding to the 2005 AGS was $3100 greater than for the previous year.
- The median salary for graduates with graduate diploma/certificate awards was $54,000 (up from $51,000 in 2004). For graduates with coursework masters awards, this figure was $63,000 (up from $60,000 in 2004) and for graduates from research masters/PhD awards it was $59,000 (up from $56,000 in 2004). The lower salaries earned by research masters/PhD graduates compared with coursework masters graduates is indicative of the different career stages the two groups are at, with the latter being more likely to have worked while studying on a part-time basis and having more employment experience.
- Across all levels of postgraduate qualification, male graduates are paid between $2000 and $10,500 more than female graduates. Disparities in salaries between males and females at this level of aggregation can reflect differences in terms of field of education and level of award, type of work, occupation and amount of work experience.
- Research masters and PhD graduates in their first full-time employment earned, on average, 7.6 per cent less than all research masters and PhD graduates in full-time employment. The corresponding statistics for coursework masters graduates and those with a graduate or postgraduate diploma or certificate are 20.6 per cent and 15 per cent less respectively.
- In contrast to bachelor degree graduates, of whom around one in four continued in further full-time study, a much smaller proportion (one in 13) of postgraduates continued in further full-time studies. This is unsurprising given that postgraduates have refined their career options, and most have (for now) a reduced need for further formal education.
Postgraduate study can represent a notable investment for students and those considering this direction need to research and understand their options.
Postgraduate Research Experience 2005
GCA also released the Postgraduate Research Experience 2005 report which collates data concerning the Higher Education experiences of research masters and PhD graduates as they worked towards their award.
Grads, Jobs and Dollars Set For October Release
GCA’s newest report, Grads, Jobs and Dollars, complements and expands on the information provided in Graduate Destinations 2005 and Graduate Salaries 2005 and is due for an October 2006 release. It provides a wealth of detailed information on:
- graduates’ availability for employment
- graduates’ rates of employment and continuing study
- graduates’ employment by industry type
- employed graduates’ occupations
- salaries of employed graduates.
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