A Ministry of Education report on the outcomes of tertiary study shows tertiary graduates consistently earn more than people who have not pursued higher education, though exact earnings differ with field of study.
Five years after finishing study, the median earnings of young people with a bachelor degree is 46 per cent above the national median earnings for those aged 15 to 64 years. Employment rates also increased with the level of qualification gained, with 54 percent of young bachelors graduates in employment in the first year after study.
The median income for bachelors graduates five years after leaving study is $51,600, but exact earnings varied considerably by field of study, with medicine, pharmacy and radiography graduates earning the most. Creative arts graduates have the lowest earnings of all after five years out of study, and are relatively likely to be receiving the benefit.
Tertiary Education Minister Steven Joyce told the Herald he expected the figures to show young people the benefit of pursuing science and maths at high school.
“Some of the applied degrees – engineering, pharmacy and medicine – are still attracting very significant premiums. If you are a young person, perhaps at year 10 and 11, and looking at this sort of data you’d probably be saying, ‘I’d better stay with my science and maths’.”
But some have said young people should not be basing career decisions on earning potential.
The report did not look at the cost of qualifications, which vary significantly. The Herald has the cost of completing a bachelor of medicine at the University of Auckland as about $76,000 in tuition fees, over six years; a bachelor of arts takes half as long at around $18,600 in tuition fees.
Demand for tertiary education remains high with 418,000 students enrolled in formal study programmes last year. Mr Joyce says the Government is on track to achieve its target of 55 per cent of the population aged 25 to 34 years with a level 4 or higher qualification by 2017.