Graduate job hopes still solid, says data

Nine in 10 university graduates with a bachelor-level degree are employed in full-time work within three years.

Education Minister Dan Tehan says a higher education qualification is ‘proving to be a solid pathway to employment’.

New survey data shows that nine in 10 university graduates with a bachelor-level degree are employed in full-time work with a median salary of $70,000 three years after they graduate.

The figures, from the federal government-backed large-scale survey of graduates undertaken every year, also show that about four out of every five people with an undergraduate degree are working in professional or managerial jobs three years after graduation.

The results show that in 2015, when surveyed within four months of completing their degree, 67.1 per cent of students had a full-time job.

Three years later, in 2018, the same group of students was surveyed again and 89.2 per cent of them had a full-time job. (The percentages are calculated as a proportion of graduates who are available for full-time work and therefore excludes those doing further study or out of the full-time labour force.)

The latest results, which aim to reveal the medium-term outcomes for graduates, are very similar to last year, when 89.3 per cent of graduates reported having a full-time job three years after completing their degree.

This is significantly less than the 92.8 per cent of three-year-out graduates who had a full-time job in 2011, reflecting recent weakness in the graduate market.

However, federal Education Minister Dan Tehan said increasing strength in the labour market, with the unemployment rate now under 5 per cent, was having an impact.

“With so many jobs being created it’s no surprise university graduates are in demand with a higher education qualification proving to be a solid pathway to employment,” he said.

Today Mr Tehan will launch a new website, www.courseseeker.edu.au, which gives prospective university students infor­mation about courses offered nationally in one place.

“The website will provide clear information about courses and institutions from across Australia, including student satisfaction rates and employment outcomes,” Mr Tehan said.

The survey data about medium-term employment outcomes also reveals data about how graduate income grows in the years after graduation from a bachelor-level degree.

In 2015 graduates with full-time jobs earned a median annual salary of $56,700 four months after completing their courses. Three years later the same group of graduates earned a median salary of $70,000.