AUSTRALIA: Rise in graduates but not in jobless

Geoff Maslen 04 November 2007

Since 1990, the number of Australians completing bachelor degrees has grown by almost 65% yet the proportion of new graduates in full-time employment has remained relatively steady. The booming Australian labour market has been able to absorb the growing graduate numbers without a notable increase in unemployment.

In fact, the most recent Australian Bureau of Statistics figures show that just 2.4% of people with bachelor degrees are unemployed compared with 7.3% of those who have not completed post-secondary education and 5% of the overall working population.

A survey of 115,000 students four months after they graduated in 2006 found that two-thirds of those working full-time were in professional jobs, 4.5% were in a management or administration role, 11% in a para-professional position and 13.5% in a clerical, sales or service-related job.

Graduates in veterinary science, teaching, health, engineering and architecture were most likely to have been working in an area related to their field, while those with a double degree were more likely to have found full-time employment than those only one degree.

The annual survey is conducted by Graduate Careers Australia. A report of the survey revealed that of new bachelor degree graduates who were seeking full-time employment, 82% had found it within four months of completing their studies. A further 12% were working on a part-time or casual basis while still seeking full-time employment and 5.5% were not working or seeking a full-time job.

A second survey of companies based in Australia and New Zealand found that the criteria used by employers in recruiting graduates included inter-personal and communication skills, critical reasoning and analytical skills, and passion plus knowledge of the industry they were seeking to work in.

More on the Graduate Careers Australia site

Receive email updates from UWN

Global newsletters    Africa newsletters    Other
    (other includes related events and webinars)

Data will be processed according to our standard terms & conditions.

Research focuses on production of jet fuel from halophytes

UAE University staff

With an eye to developing a clean, alternative aviation fuel to reduce carbon emissions, researchers at the United Arab Emirates University have been focusing on the production of jet fuel from sustainable resources such as halophytes, which are salt-tolerant plants that could be cultivated on a wider scale in the region’s coastal areas.

The value of being human: How teachers can work alongside AI

Michael Milligan

Artificial intelligence is now a part of our evolution in technology and teachers need to be encouraged to find ways to bring AI into the classroom and have students use it in a way that is beneficial to them in the long term.

Ground-breaking research on seawater biodesalination

UAE University staff

As water scarcity reaches critical levels globally, a research team at the United Arab Emirates University seeks to revolutionise seawater desalination practices, offering a path to mitigate water scarcity while championing environmental preservation.