University graduate outcomes for STEM and other fields

Higher education graduates with undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications report on outcomes after completing their education.

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Data insights

Skill use

In 2023, similar proportions of employed women and men undergraduates felt their skills weren’t being fully used in their jobs in most STEM fields. The largest difference between genders was in computing and information systems, where 38% of employed men graduates felt they weren’t using their skills, compared to 29% of employed women graduates.

A smaller proportion of women STEM graduates in full-time employment felt their skills weren’t being used (31%) compared to all employed STEM graduates (47%). This suggests graduates who are employed on other bases, such as part-time, are more likely to feel their skills aren’t being used.

Compared to graduates from other broad fields of education, women STEM graduates were most likely to report their skills weren’t fully utilised in their job. Of women who had graduated from STEM qualifications (total STEM), 47% felt their skills weren’t fully utilised, compared to 21% of total women graduates from health and 41% of total women graduates from non-STEM.

From 2022 to 2023, this feeling decreased for employed women graduates in agriculture and environmental studies by four percentage points (47% to 43%). For other STEM fields, there was either no change or an increase.

• engineering (24% in 2022 compared to 24% in 2023)
• science and mathematics (57% in 2022 compared to 58% in 2023)
• computing and information systems (26% in 2022 compared to 29% in 2023).

A higher proportion of employed STEM graduates with disability reported their skills weren’t fully utilised in their job (50%), compared to STEM graduates without disability (41%). For STEM graduates in other diversity groups:

• 45% of CALD graduates reported this feeling, compared to 42% of non-CALD graduates
• 36% of graduates from a remote location reported this feeling, compared to 43% of those from a metropolitan location.

Income

Median full-time income for women STEM graduates remained the same or increased in all undergraduate STEM fields from 2022 to 2023. The largest increases were:

• engineering ($71,000 in 2022, compared to $75,000 in 2023)
• computing and information systems ($69,000 in 2022, compared to $73,000 in 2023).

Median incomes for men graduates in STEM fields also increased from 2022 to 2023.

In 2022, the median full-time income gaps between men and women undergraduates were small. In 2023 the gaps were larger for:

• agriculture and environmental studies, the income gap between men and women undergraduates was $3,000 (note income is rounded to the nearest $1,000 in this report)
• science and mathematics, the income gap between men and women undergraduates was also $3,000.

The income gaps between men and women STEM graduates become larger in the postgraduate coursework group.

From 2022 to 2023, the median full-time average income of STEM graduates with undergraduate qualifications grew across all diversity groups, except for graduates from remote locations.

The largest growth in median full-time annual income was for CALD graduates from STEM undergraduate qualifications. Their income grew from $65,000 in 2022 to approximately $73,000 in 2023. This was the same for CALD graduates from a STEM postgraduate research qualification. Their income grew from $90,000 in 2022 to $97,000 in 2023.

Part-time work and under-employment

In 2023, the proportion of women undergraduates employed part-time was higher than men in each of the STEM fields.

In every year since 2018, women undergraduates employed part-time were equal to or higher than men in each of the STEM fields. The exceptions were engineering in 2020 and computing and information systems in 2018 and 2019.

The proportions of women in some STEM fields who were working part-time and are seeking more hours have decreased over time. The decreases were in:

• engineering, which dropped from 8% in 2021 5% in 2023
• agricultural and environmental studies, where the proportion seeking more hours dropped from 21% in 2021 to 14% in 2023.

In 2023, a smaller proportion of First Nations STEM graduates were working part-time (27%), compared to non-First Nations graduates (36%). Of First Nations graduates employed part-time, 13% were not seeking more hours and 9% were seeking more hours.

A slightly larger proportion of STEM graduates with disability were employed part-time (38%) than graduates without disability (31%). This was the same across all broad fields of education, with 43% of graduates with disability employed part-time in non-STEM fields (compared to 33% of graduates without disability) and 40% of graduates with disability employed part-time in health fields (compared to 36% of graduates without disability).

Gender equity in diversity groups

Among First Nations STEM graduates, 49% of women and 33% of men felt their skills weren’t fully utilised in their job. There was a smaller gender difference among non-First Nations graduates, where 47% of women and 38% of men felt their skills weren’t fully utilised in their job.

For First Nations STEM graduates working full-time, 42% of women and 26% of men felt their skills weren’t fully utilised in their job. These were lower proportions than all employed STEM graduates.

Among all employed STEM CALD graduates, 50% of women and 41% of men felt their skills weren’t fully utilised in their job in 2023. This was similar to non-CALD STEM graduates. In 2023, 47% of non-CALD women graduates felt their skills weren’t fully utilised in their job, compared to 38% of men.

For CALD graduates of a STEM postgraduate research qualification, women earned less than men. The median full-time annual income of women in this cohort was approximately $90,000, while the median income of men was around $103,000. In 2022, the median income for women was $89,000 and $90,000 for men.

In 2023, more women CALD STEM graduates were working part-time (42%) than men (31%).

For STEM graduates from remote locations, a higher proportion of women (23%) than men (10%) were employed on a part-time basis in 2023. This is a large change from 2023, where 34% of women and 4% of men STEM graduates from a remote location were employed part-time. There were also increases from 2022 to 2023 for both women and men from remote locations in the proportion of people employed part-time and seeking more hours.

About the data

The Quality Indicators for Learning and Teaching (QILT) Graduate Outcomes Survey carried out by Social Research Centre defines underemployment as graduates who were usually or actually, in paid employment for fewer than 35 hours per week in the week before the survey, and who would prefer to work a greater number of hours.

Graduates of Australian higher education institutions take the Graduate Outcomes Survey about four months after completing their courses. Data shown in this report is for domestic students only.

The survey gives information on labour market outcomes and graduates’ further study. Graduates employed for 35 hours or more per week (who are available for full-time work) are defined as employed full-time. ‘All employed graduates’, mentioned above, includes those employed in any capacity at the time of survey who are available for work.

Read more about our methodology.