Post grad qualified job hunters do best

By Kate Southam

Demand for post graduate qualifications amongst employers is on the rise with experts claiming further education is a good way to navigate uncertain times.

According to data released by Graduate Careers Australia, those with a post graduate qualification faired better with employers than those with only a bachelor degree.

Commenting on the results, Peter Gleeson Chandler Macleod’s executive general manager recruitment, predicts that the employment market will remain uncertain for the foreseeable future and up skilling was one way to keep skills relevant.

Mr Gleeson added that as pressure remains on salaries, post graduate education was also an alternative reward employers could use to retain their people.

The AGS survey of almost 100,000 people looked at how grads faired four months after completing their studies in 2010.

Of those surveyed, 86 per cent of postgraduates found jobs compared to 76 per cent of bachelor degree graduates.

The median salary for new postgraduates grew by 2 per cent between 2009 and 2010, reaching an overall level of $70,000 while bachelor degree graduates earned $50,000 on average.

Other key survey results include:

– Of those postgraduates working full-time, 22.5 per cent were working in their first full-time jobs.

– Postgraduates in their first full-time jobs earned less, on average, than those postgraduates who had previous full-time employment experience.

– Male postgraduates earned more, on average, than their female counterparts ($80,000 versus $65,000). This was particularly noticeable for graduates from Coursework Masters programs ($85,000 for males versus $70,000 for females).

– Of the remaining postgraduates available for full-time employment, 7.8 per cent were working part-time or casually while looking for employment and 5.9 per cent were not working while looking for full-time employment.

– Of those postgraduates not wanting to find full-time employment, 5.0 per cent were in full-time study at the time of the survey, 13.6 per cent were in or seeking part-time or casual employment, and 5.8 per cent were unavailable for work or study.

– Employment rates for males were higher than for females at Postgraduate Diploma, Certificate and Masters levels (90.1 per cent compared with 87.3 per cent, and 85.8 per cent compared with 83.8 per cent respectively), but marginally higher for females than males at the Research Masters/PhD level (85.0 per cent compared with 84.7 per cent).

– Females were more likely to be working in their first full-time job than males at the Postgraduate Diploma/Certificate and Masters levels.

– Males were more likely to be working overseas than females at all levels. 

– More postgraduates were employed in the private sector (38.4 per cent) than any other sector.

– Postgraduate Diploma / Certificate graduates and Masters grads were most likely to be employed in the private sector (32.4 per cent and 46.8 per cent respectively.

– Research Masters/PhD graduates were most likely to be employed in the education sector (46.1 per cent).

– The median age of a new postgraduate was 34 while the median age of a bachelor degree holder was 23.

 CareerOne.com.au, August 2011.