Australia spurns IT postgraduates: bad news for workers?

Stephen Withers
Monday, 08 September 2008 12:02

IT Industry - Market

Are once standout IT salaries still slack? The latest annual Postgraduate Destinations report from Graduate Careers Australia shows Australian employers are leaving a lot of ICT graduates on the shelf, and consequently salaries are close to the average across all disciplines.

Are the boom times yet to return for IT workers in Australia? The latest edition of the annual Postgraduate Destinations looks at work outcomes for Australian citizens and permanent residents who completed the requirements for a postgraduate award in 2006 and entered the labour market in 2007, and who responded to the 2007 Graduate Destination Survey.

2007 students gaining postgraduate diplomas or postgraduate certificates in electronic/computer engineering had one of the lowest levels of success in gaining full time employment by the time of the survey, with 5 percent not working and looking for full time employment, and another 10 percent in part-time or casual work while they seek a 'proper' job.

Education (15.3 percent, and there's supposed to be a teacher shortage!), visual/performing arts (26.7 percent), and humanities (15.6 percent) were the only subject areas with higher levels of underemployment and unemployment, excluding subjects with small numbers of students.

Computer scientists did better, with 11.8 percent looking for full time employment, but this was still worse than the 9.3 percent average across the entire cohort.

Does a higher degree such as a masters make a difference? See page two.