The 2017 Graduate Outcomes Survey – Longitudinal (GOS-L) has revealed some positive results especially for international students who are choosing to study in Australian universities.
The GOS-L supplements the Graduate Outcomes Survey by measuring the medium-term employment outcomes of higher education graduates, approximately three years after they have completed their course.
The 2017 GOS-L is based on a cohort analysis of graduates who responded to the 2014 Graduate Destinations Survey.
Since the Global Financial Crisis (GFC), graduates have taken longer to find work, especially those with generalist degrees.
But the survey states employment outcomes for higher education graduates improve markedly in the medium-term.
In 2014, 67.5 per cent of undergraduates were in full-time employment four months after graduation.
Three years later in 2017, 89.3 per cent of the same cohort of undergraduates had found full-time employment.
The proportion of undergraduates in employment overall, including full-time, part-time and casual work, also increased, from 89.7 per cent in 2014 to 91.7 per cent in 2017.
Median salaries for graduates employed full-time increased from $56,000 in 2014 to $68,500 in 2017.
In 2014, female graduates earned $5,500, or nine per cent less than male graduates. In 2017, for the same cohort of graduates three years later, the difference in salary by gender had risen to $6,400, remaining stable in proportional terms at nine per cent.
The survey states generalist study areas with relatively low initial rates of full-time employment tend to experience particularly strong improvements over the medium-term.
In 2014, 45.8 per cent of Creative Arts undergraduates had found full-time work four months after graduation, but three years later 79.4 per cent were in full-time work.
Similarly, 48.0 per cent of Science and Mathematics undergraduates were in full-time employment shortly after graduation in 2014, but three years later 84.5 per cent were in full-time work.
At the postgraduate coursework level, the full-time employment rate rose from 82.6 per cent in 2014 to 91.9 per cent in 2017.
Source: Pixabay
The rate of overall employment also increased over the same period, from 93.2 per cent to 94.3 per cent.
Median full-time salaries for postgraduate coursework degree holders rose by 12.5 per cent between 2014 and 2017, from $80,000 to $90,000.
In 2014, median salaries for female graduates were $18,000, or 20 per cent less than for male graduates.
By 2017 the difference in salaries earned had fallen to $15,000, or 15 per cent.
For postgraduate research, the rate of full-time employment rose from 77.1 per cent shortly after program completion, to 90.9 per cent three years later in 2017.
Overall employment rates also rose, from 92.4 per cent in 2014 to 93.6 per cent in 2017.
Median-full time salaries for postgraduate research degree holders increased by 24.8 per cent between 2014 and 2017, from $80,000 to $99,800.
Median earnings of male and female graduates were equal in 2014, but by 2017 median salaries for female graduates were $3,000, or three per cent, less than for male graduates.
The Social Research Centre administered the GOS-L in February 2017 with the assistance of all 55 participating institutions. A 42.2 per cent response rate was achieved representing a total of 38,591 surveys from all study levels.
Share
