July 2011     A new report from Graduate Careers Australia (GCA), Graduate Destinations 2010, shows that, in 2010, employment prospects for new higher education graduates fell for the second year running.

In 2010, 76.2 per cent of bachelor degree graduates available for full-time employment had found a full-time position within four months of course completion. An additional 15.1 per cent were working part-time and seeking a full-time job and 8.6 per cent not working and seeking a full-time position.

The figure of 76.2 per cent was down from 79.2 per cent in 2009 and 85.2 per cent in 2008 and was the lowest figure since 1994.  CA Research Manager Bruce Guthrie said that employment figures for new graduates had initially been affected by the Global Financial Crisis, and continuing labour market uncertainty amongst graduate recruiters has seen graduate intakes remain conservative.

He advised final year students, who will be new graduates in 2012, to begin their job searches now, if they haven’t already done so, as competition for jobs will be strong.  “We are now into the recruitment season for final year students and it seems that activity might be up a little this year, which suggests that graduate employment figures could show an improvement,” he added.

The Australian Graduate Survey (AGS) is conducted annually with all Australian universities, along with a number of smaller private institutions, participating. In the 2010 AGS, over 161,000 new domestic graduates were invited to respond to the survey four months after they had completed requirements for their awards and almost 100,000 did so, giving a response rate of 61.8 per cent.

The 2010 AGS results show that, of the group of domestic bachelor degree graduates available for full-time employment (that is, either in or seeking a full-time position), 76.2 per cent were in full-time employment at the time of the survey with 15.1 per cent working part-time and seeking a full-time job and 8.6 per cent not working and seeking a full-time position.

In additional key findings show:

• Females were more likely to have been in full-time employment than males (76.8 per cent compared to 75.4 per cent).

• Males were also more likely to be without work while seeking full-time employment (10.6 per cent) than females (7.3 per cent).

• Females were more likely than males to be in part-time or casual work while seeking full-time employment (15.9 per cent compared with 13.9 per cent),

• Younger graduates (those aged less than 25) were less likely than the total group to have been in full-time work (74.3 per cent compared with 76.2 per cent).

• Graduates from a non-English speaking background were notably less likely to have been in full-time employment than the total group (66.0 per cent compared with 76.2 per cent).

• Indigenous graduates were more likely to have been in full-time employment than the total group (80.3 per cent compared with 76.2 per cent).

• Graduates who reported having a disability were notably less likely to have been in full-time employment than the total group (66.3 per cent compared with 76.2 per cent)

• Graduates of NT (87.1 per cent) ACT (79.6 per cent) and Queensland institutions (78.0 per cent) had better employments prospects than those from other states.

These figures are for new graduates who have recently completed their higher education awards. In the population as a whole, the most recently available Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) data (May 2010) show that just 2.7 per cent of those with bachelor degrees were unemployed compared with 8.0 per cent of those who had not completed post-secondary education and 5.3 per cent of all persons.

From information provided by graduate Careers Australia, July 5, 2011.

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