Who Will Earn the Most They Graduate?

The Report What do students earn after their tertiary education by David Scott was published way back in September 2009 (and you can find the full report and everything I've typed/ripped off here), but I only discovered it after reading about it in the newspaper (how slack of me). Anyway, I thought I'd have a read through the full report, and these are the key points with regards to how different degrees compare:

- People who completed their degree earned 29 per cent more than those who didn't complete their degree
- Compared to bachelor's degree students who studied humanities, graduates in medical studies could be expected to earn 2.59 times more than them after three years of graduating, with those studying veterinary studies expecting to earn 1.61 times more, law 1.47 times more, electrical engineering 1.44 times more, pharmacy 1.43 times more, accountancy 1.42 times more, computer science 1.36 times more, and nursing 1.26 times more. Those studying science subjects would earn between 1.22 and 1.30 times more (although biology would earn you only 1.12 times more), while those with teaching degrees would earn 1.27 times more after one year of graduating, and 1.16 times more after three years.
- Toursim, performing arts, visual arts, graphic and design arts degrees earned between 10 and 20 per cent less than those with humanities degrees
- Degrees in communications and media studies earned 11 per cent more than those with humanities degrees.
- Therefore, qualifications in engineering, information technology, architecture and building and health earned the most.
- Earnings of people with degrees in science or management and commerce were in the middle tier
- Degrees in society and culture, creative arts, food, hospitality and personal services earned the least.
- Degrees in teaching and education were high earners to begin with, but fell to around the middle level after three years.

You can check out the median incomes for certain degrees/fields in the table below:

Field (broad and narrow)	Number	One year post-study	Three years post-study	Earnings increase
		Median $ Proportion of national median	Median $ Proportion of national median	$ %
Sciences	260	32,900 1.23	42,200 1.47	9,300 28%
Mathematics	40	34,900 1.30	45,600 1.58	10,700 31%
Chemical sci	30	31,400 1.17	42,800 1.49	11,400 36%
Earth sci	40	31,400 1.17	44,800 1.56	13,400 43%
Biological sci	100	31,100 1.16	39,400 1.37	8,300 27%
Other sciences	80	36,400 1.36	45,500 1.58	9,100 25%
Information technology	430	33,900 1.26	46,000 1.60	12,100 36%
Computer science	200	35,000 1.31	47,600 1.65	12,600 36%
Information systems	300	33,600 1.25	45,200 1.57	11,600 35%
Engineering	120	37,200 1.39	47,800 1.66	10,600 28%
Geomatic eng	30	39,000 1.46	50,500 1.75	11,500 29%
Electrical eng	50	36,000 1.34	50,600 1.76	14,600 41%
Architecture & building	110	32,600 1.22	39,600 1.38	7,000 21%
Architecture	110	32,300 1.21	39,600 1.38	7,300 23%
Agriculture	40	31,400 1.17	39,900 1.39	8,500 27%
Health	580	38,100 1.42	47,000 1.63	8,900 23%
Medical	110	75,200 2.81	91,000 3.16	15,800 21%
Nursing	180	35,500 1.32	44,300 1.54	8,800 25%
Pharmacy	70	35,900 1.34	50,300 1.75	14,400 40%
Veterinary	30	47,900 1.79	56,600 1.97	8,700 18%
Radiography	30	45,000 1.68	47,500 1.65	2,500 6%
Rehabilitation	110	34,700 1.29	41,900 1.45	7,200 21%
Other health	40	27,400 1.02	35,100 1.22	7,700 28%
Education	550	35,700 1.33	40,800 1.42	5,100 14%
Teacher education	510	35,900 1.34	40,800 1.42	4,900 14%
Education studies	170	31,800 1.19	40,600 1.41	8,800 28%
Management & commerce	930	33,700 1.26	43,900 1.52	10,200 30%
Accountancy	150	36,400 1.36	49,800 1.73	13,400 37%
Business & management	470	33,500 1.25	43,600 1.51	10,100 30%
Sales & marketing	380	32,500 1.21	42,000 1.46	9,500 29%
Tourism	60	28,400 1.06	31,400 1.09	3,000 11%
Banking & finance	100	35,400 1.32	45,600 1.58	10,200 29%
Society & culture	770	30,800 1.15	40,100 1.39	9,300 30%
Pol sci & policy studies	50	31,500 1.18	40,800 1.42	9,300 30%
Human society	170	28,200 1.05	35,100 1.22	6,900 24%
Human welfare	30	34,200 1.28	35,600 1.24	1,400 4%
Behavioural	120	30,300 1.13	40,400 1.40	10,100 33%
Law	100	37,600 1.40	51,600 1.79	14,000 37%
Language & literature	140	28,500 1.06	37,000 1.28	8,500 30%
Philosophy & religion	40	27,500 1.03	37,300 1.30	9,800 36%
Economics	100	36,200 1.35	48,100 1.67	11,900 33%
Sport & recreation	50	24,700 0.92	33,800 1.17	9,100 37%
Other society & culture	100	27,900 1.04	37,100 1.29	9,200 33%
Creative arts	580	26,300 0.98	34,500 1.20	8,200 31%
Performing arts	70	16,000 0.60	25,400 0.88	9,400 59%
Visual arts & crafts	130	21,000 0.78	29,100 1.01	8,100 39%
Graphic & design	210	25,500 0.95	34,400 1.19	8,900 35%
Comms & media	190	31,000 1.16	39,000 1.35	8,000 26%
All completers	3,720	33,000 1.23	41,300 1.43	8,300 25%
National median		26,800 1.00	28,800 1.00	2,000 8%

So as you can see, we don't do too badly in pharmacy. There is a greater increase in pay over the three years compared to those in other fields though.

There is a whole lot more analysis on those with different levels of qualifications and how they do in the report, so if you're interested you should definitely have a read!