September 2009     Graduates with postgraduate degrees and prior full-time employment experience can still expect to earn a higher median salary than postgraduates going into their first full-time employment, according to recently released findings from the 2008 Australian Graduate Survey (AGS).

The research, conducted by Graduate Careers Australia (GCA), indicated that graduates from coursework masters degrees going into their first full-time employment earned a median salary $20,000 less when compared with all postgraduates in full-time employment. A large difference was also observed for graduates from postgraduate diploma/certificate courses ($10,000 less for the inexperienced graduates) although the difference was not so pronounced for graduates from research masters/PhD programs ($4,000 less).

GCA Research Manager, Bruce Guthrie, said that this shows that employers are still willing to pay a
premium for experience.

“This finding demonstrates that relevant employment experience can still be used to differentiate candidates in the labour market, even when they have postgraduate qualifications”, Mr. Guthrie said.  He added,  “As the proportion of the workforce with bachelor degree qualifications continues to grow, candidates are increasingly undertaking postgraduate study to add a vocational emphasis to their initial qualifications or upgrading their qualifications to establish a competitive edge in the labour market”.

Although male postgraduates enjoyed only marginally higher employment rates than female postgraduates, the difference in median salaries between males and females was much more pronounced. Male coursework masters graduates reported a median salary $15,000 higher than their female counterparts, with a $13,600 difference reported for postgraduate diploma/certificate graduates. Male research masters/PhD graduates also earned a higher median salary than females, but the difference was much narrower at $4,000. 

The Australian Graduate Survey is an annual survey of graduates who complete a course of study at an Australian higher education institution. More than 119,000 graduates completed the 2008 survey, of which more than 42,000 responses were from postgraduates. 

From a media release by Graduate Careers Australia, September 4, 2009.

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