Australia spurns IT postgraduates: bad news for workers?

Stephen Withers
Monday, 08 September 2008 11:02

IT Industry - Market

For each level of qualification (except research masters/PhD, where there were fewer than 10 female respondents), the survey found males' median male salaries were higher than females'.

So who would benefit from an influx of women? Median postgraduate salaries in the IT industry are nothing special, so increasing the number of entrants is likely to drag them down below the average. And attracting more candidates from a relatively underpaid segment would only exacerbate such a trend.

Not that the gap is especially wide in these disciplines. For example, median salaries for a computer science coursework masters were $63,000 for males and $60,000 for females. Compare that with economics ($80,000 vs $54,000) and business studies ($95,000 vs $74,000).

Where do women manage better salary outcomes than men? A diploma or certificate in social sciences or geology (beware small numbers in the latter group); coursework masters in psychology, social work or pharmacy; and research masters/PhD in visual/performing arts.

"In addition to earning less than similarly qualified males, female postgraduates were more likely to be in part-time or casual employment and seeking full-time work and generally reported fewer employer benefits while studying, such as financial support and time off for study, than male postgraduates," the report noted.