Which Countries Have the Best Job Prospects for Recent Grads?

As a student or graduate, knowing what the job market looks like can be incredibly enlightening, and a key metric to pay attention to is the "graduate employment rate." 

Today, let's dive into graduate employment rates across the globe, with a particular spotlight on Australia. How do we compare to other countries? And what does that mean for you as a grad or soon-to-be grad?

What is the graduate employment rate?

The graduate employment rate is a bit like a job-market barometer for fresh graduates – it tells you what percentage of students manage to land a job within a certain timeframe after graduating. Depending on the country or region, this time period can range from as short as one month to as long as three years. 

Simply put, the higher this graduate employment rate, the better your chances of nabbing a job fresh out of uni!

What do graduate employment rates look like around the world?

Unfortunately, not all countries keep tabs on their recent grads specifically. Here're the stats from 20 countries who do!

Sources:

• EU: Eurostat | Recent graduates: new high in employment in 2022
• Australia: Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching | Graduate Outcomes Survey
• Japan: Yomiuri Shimbun | 97% of New University Graduates Land Jobs
• UK: Explore education statistics | Graduate labour market statistics

How are we faring?

Here in Australia, we have a graduate employment rate of 88.3%. It may not be Japan (whose enviable position comes partly from a population shortage crisis), but it's honestly not bad either – you basically have a 9/10 chance of landing a job within 4-6 months of leaving uni!

Let's take a closer look to get a better idea of the situation at home.

What percentage of grads are working full-time?

• 78.5% of recent grads are working full-time (defined as "at least 35 hours a week").
• This is the highest full-time graduate employment rate since 2009!

What kinds of jobs are grads working?

• Nearly 7 in 10 fully-employed grads work in managerial or professional occupations, which suggests that graduates don't just settle for any job. Rather, they're stepping into roles that have a real career trajectory.
• The remaining grads work jobs that don't fully use their skills and education, with around 28% of these citing 'Entry level job / career stepping stone' as the main reason.

What kinds of grads are doing the best in the job market?

• Full-time employment rates are rising across the board. However, some academic backgrounds are more in-demand than others. 
• The top 5 areas of study in terms of full-time employment rates were rehabilitation (96.5%), pharmacy (96.2%), medicine (93%), veterinary science (89.9%), and engineering (87.5%).
• Full-time employment rates were lowest for grads who studied science & mathematics (72.5%), psychology (72%), communications (68.4%), `Tourism, hospitality, personal services, sport and recreation` (65.1%), and creative arts (57.3%).

How much are grads making?

• Among those employed full-time, the median annual salary is $68k.

So overall, we're doing pretty well – especially when you consider the fact that "more Australian jobs than ever before will require a degree over the next 15 years." (In some countries, like South Korea for instance, the number of graduates exceeds the number of jobs for grads. Not so here in Australia – the odds are in your favour!)

What next?

We hope that these figures give you a glimmer of hope for your future.

But remember: graduate employment rates don't guarantee a job. It's up to you to utilise your unique skills, experiences, and networks to stand out in the job market.

So check out more of our trusted career advice and insights (e.g. wanna know your odds of getting a graduate job?) and start exploring your options (the thousands of jobs and internships out there!). Good luck!