The table illustrates the employment rates and average annual salaries for graduates across six different fields of study at an Australian university in 2009. Overall, it is evident that there is no direct correlation between high employment rates and higher salaries, as the field with the highest employment rate offered one of the lowest starting salaries.
Health graduates recorded the highest employment rate at 93%, although their average annual salary was relatively modest at $42,000. In contrast, Law and Engineering and IT graduates shared the highest average annual salaries at $59,000 each, with corresponding employment rates of 87% and 86% respectively. Business graduates followed with an employment rate of 78% and an average salary of $52,000.
At the lower end of the spectrum, Arts and Social Science graduates had an employment rate of 72% and earned an average of $50,000 annually. Science graduates experienced the lowest employment rate at 62% and also received the lowest average annual salary of $39,000. While Health graduates were the most likely to be employed, those in the Law and Engineering sectors were the most financially rewarded upon entering the workforce.