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?
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!
Unfortunately, not all countries keep tabs on their recent grads specifically. Here're the stats from 20 countries who do!
Country | Graduate Employment Rate |
🏆 Japan | 97.3% |
🏆 Luxembourg | 93.4% |
🏆 Netherlands | 92.9% |
🏆 Germany | 92.2% |
🏆 Iceland | 92.1% |
Malta | 90.8% |
Norway | 89.7% |
Hungary | 88.9% |
Austria | 88.4% |
🇦🇺 Australia | 88.3% |
Sweden | 88.1% |
UK | 87.3% |
Ireland | 87.2% |
Poland | 84.7% |
Finland | 83.9% |
Spain | 79.1% |
France | 78.6% |
Romania | 69.9% |
Greece | 66.1% |
Italy | 65.2% |
Sources:
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?
What kinds of jobs are grads working?
What kinds of grads are doing the best in the job market?
How much are grads making?
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!)
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!