The job market has become a bit of a hellscape of late, with more and more uni and TAFE graduates are spending days on end scrolling endlessly through job boards and filling out selection criteria forms that ask them to repeat what’s already in their bloody CV.
But thnx to data from MySkills and Graduate Careers Australia, we’ve now got a better picture as to how likely you are to be employed after finishing your studies, and how much you’ll earn. And it’s good news for those studying at TAFE.
TAFE graduates can expect a 78% chance of attaining full-time employment straight after graduation, compared to 69% for uni leavers. They can also expect a higher median starting salary from their graduate employment, averaging at at $56,000 compared to uni’s $54,000. In other words, TAFE grads have a better chance of not only getting a job, but earning more dough from the get-go than their uni-based brethren.
TAFE also dominates the top average graduate salaries. A Certificate IV in Hazardous Areas – Electrical gives you the potential to earn a whopping $85,400 starting salary, on average. In fact, the top five vocational education courses with the highest median starting salaries beat out the comparable list of uni courses, including such high-profile gigs as medicine and engineering.
The only two uni majors that even come close are optometry and dentistry, with median starting salaries of $80,000.
So, if you’ve ever been given flak about those aspirations to become a tradie, please show said hater this info and the below gif.
The top-earning uni courses, on average, are:
- Optometry, Dentistry ($80,000)
- Medicine ($65,000)
- Education ($61,000)
- Engineering, Earth Sciences, Mathematics ($60,000)
While the top-earning TAFE courses, on average, are:
- Certificate IV in Hazardous areas – Electrical ($85,400)
- Certificate IV in Electrical – Instrumentation ($78,700)
- Certificate III in Gas Supply Industry Operations ($73,900)
- Certificate III in Engineering – Mechanical Trade ($73,900)
- Certificate III in Electrotechnology Electrician ($73,000)
So, if you are really in it for the money right out the gate, it might be worth having a look at courses available at your nearest TAFE.
