Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) has released the results of recent research that found 76 per cent of new bachelor degree graduates in the job market found full-time employment within four months of completing their studies. The report shows a decline from the 2009 figure that showed that 79 per cent had found employment.

 

GCA Research Manager, Mr Bruce Guthrie, explained that these figures reflected the state of the broader economic environment at the time of the survey and had to be viewed in perspective.

 

“Three years after the global financial crisis we are still seeing its lingering effects as graduate recruiter activity in the labour market remains flat,” Mr Guthrie said.

 

“However, our research also shows that unemployment is not a long-term concern for graduates and it’s important to understand that getting a degree is not about the first job after university: it’s about the potential for huge personal growth and a life-time of advantage in the labour market,” he added.

 

The report found that soft labour market conditions had stymied growth in graduate starting salaries, with the median starting salary for bachelor degree graduates aged 25 and under in their first full-time employment growing just over $1,000 to $50,000.

 

New graduates who found full-time employment employed a number of strategies, with one-in-four graduates (26.4 per cent) in a full-time job having found that job via the Internet.

 

Bachelor degree graduates from the fields of mining engineering, medicine and pharmacy achieved the best employment outcomes in 2010, with more than 97 per cent of graduates from these fields securing full-time employment within four months of graduation.