Women with postgrad degrees lag men in salary, survey shows

The gap between higher male salaries and lower female salaries for those with postgraduate coursework degrees is still substantial.

Women with higher degrees are still waiting for equal pay

The gap between higher male salaries and lower female salaries among people completing postgraduate coursework degrees is steadily narrowing.

In 2009 women postgraduate completers working full-time earned 19.2 per cent less than equivalent men ($63,000 median salary compared to $78,000) just after finishing their degree.

In 2022 this gap narrowed to 10.8 per cent, with full-time women earning $89,200 median salary compared to $100,000 for men. The median salary for all those completing postgraduate coursework degrees was $91,600 in 2022

The data is revealed in the latest annual federal government-backed graduate outcomes survey from the Australian National University’s Social Research Centre. Students who complete degrees are invited to complete the survey 4-6 months after graduation. In the 2022 around about 130,000 graduates – both postgraduate and undergraduate – responded.

The 10.8 per cent gender gap in postgraduate salaries is far greater than the gender gap in undergraduate salaries. Women completing undergraduate degrees who were in full-time work earned 3 per cent less than equivalent men in 2022.

Only in the low paid study area of rehabilitation did women who finished a postgraduate degree earn more ($71,400) than men ($70,000).

Because the data is based on people working full-time the larger pay gap suffered by women postgraduates can’t be attributed to women tending to work part-time because of family responsibilities. However it’s possible that women completing postgraduate degrees (who are usually several years into their career) have been promoted more slowly – and hence earn less – than comparable men, because of time they have taken out of the workforce (or periods they have worked part-time) in order to care for children.

Job prospects for people completing postgraduate coursework degrees were very strong in the 2022 post-Covid environment. The employment rate for those declaring themselves available for full-time work reaching 89.4 per cent, the highest level recorded in the published series since 2009.

The overall employment rate – which includes part-time workers as well – for postgraduate coursework degree completers stood at 93.3 per cent in 2022, the highest since 2012.

Even though job outcomes are currently healthy for people completing postgraduate coursework degrees, overall course satisfaction rates have been trending downwards since 2014 and stood at 80 per cent in 2022.

It was higher, at 81.7 per cent in 2020 but the impact of Covid caused it to dip to 79.8 per cent in 2021 before rising slightly in 2022.

However course satisfaction rates for postgraduate coursework degrees vary considerably by study area.

Areas where students are most satisfied include pharmacy (88 per cent), humanities, culture and social sciences (86.8 per cent), agriculture and environmental studies (83.4 per cent) and health services and support (83.2 per cent).

Areas where satisfaction is least include veterinary science (62.7 per cent), tourism, hospitality, personal services, sport and recreation (70.2 per cent), creative arts (72 per cent) and architecture and built environment (74.3 per cent).

The Social Research Centre also tracks graduates and surveys them again three years after they graduate and this data shows how that their employment situation improves (on average) over that period, suggesting that a postgraduate degree offers medium-term, as well as short-term, career benefits.

People who completed a postgraduate course in 2019 had, shortly after graduation, a full-time employment rate of 86.6 per cent, an overall employment rate (which includes part-time workers) of 92.7 per cent, and a median salary of $86,100 for full-timers.

Three years later, in 2022, these had improved to a full-time employment rate of 94.8 per cent, an overall employment rate of 96 per cent, and a median salary of $103,000 for full-timers.

Worryingly, the large gender pay gap persisted at roughly the same level through the three years after completing a postgraduate coursework degree. In 2019 female graduates earned 12.4 per cent less than males. Three years later, in 2022, the gap was 11.1 per cent for the same cohort of graduates, scarcely an improvement.

But in some study areas, three years after completing a postgraduate degree women were earning more than men in 2022.

In communications women working full-time earned a median salary of $82,500, 1.1 per cent more than men. In architecture and build environment women earned $88,200, 3.7 per cent more than men, and in social work they earned $89,700, 5.2 per cent more than men.

These three areas, where women make higher salaries than man, are among the lower earning areas of study.