Banking on studies

Postgraduates earn a substantial premium from their higher studies in their first year after graduating, according to a study that shows some postgraduates are now starting jobs on $60,000.

The annual survey by Graduate Careers Australia shows that postgraduates with a research masters degree or PhD started work in 2007 on a median salary of $60,000, up $4000 from 2006.
 
The median starting salary for those starting their first full-time jobs with a postgraduate diploma or certificate was $49,100, up from $47,000 in 2006.

Median salaries for all full-time employed postgraduates increased by up to $3300 from the 2006 figures, according to the GCA study, which examined the experiences of 200,000 recent graduates.

The study shows that employers award a significant premium to postgraduates who have full-time work experience before their studies.

For example, the 2007 median starting salary for all masters degree graduates was $68,000, compared with the $50,000 average for coursework masters graduates in their first full-time jobs.

Employment prospects for postgraduates remained strong in 2007, with 89.5% of those seeking full-time work finding jobs at the time of the survey - about four months after graduation. This was only marginally below the 2006 figure of 89.9%.

But employment and study outcomes varied widely by field of study.

Among diploma/certificate postgraduates, aeronautical engineering was the only field (with 10 or more cases) in which all ex-students were available for full-time work.

Building, geology, electronic engineering and chemical engineering also had rates of availability for full-time work above 90%.

The survey found that graduates from humanities/social science, education and health-related fields were more likely to be in part-time work and not seeking full-time work than graduates in business, engineering and science-related fields.

Postgraduates with research masters or PhD degrees were less likely than other graduates to receive employer contributions towards studies, and were the most likely to end up working overseas.

GCA Executive Director Cindy Tilbrook says many students are seeking postgraduate qualifications to gain a competitive edge in the labour market among the growing number of bachelor graduates, or to fine-tune their qualifications.

Published: 13 September 2008