The university degrees that can earn Australians a six-figure salary just three years after graduating are proving more lucrative every year.
Australians who study degrees in law, medicine and IT will earn healthy salaries during their first three years of work compared to other industries.
According to the Department of Education, starting wages are rising, with new data showing graduates who earned $69,000 in 2022 were paid $91,000 last year.
It represents a massive 32 per cent pay jump based on average wage data.
The data found that dentists, doctors, lawyers and developers of hardware, software, and network systems earned the most three years after graduating.
Dentists are pocketing the most with an average wage of $128,900.
Those with a degree in medicine earn an average salary of $115,000, which is about $25,000 more than graduates were earning three years earlier.
Not only is the money good, those with medical degrees were also the most likely to find work, with more than 90 per cent employed three years after graduating.
Australians who earn degrees in law, medicine and IT will be paid healthy salaries during their first three years of work compared to other industries (stock)
The average wage for pharmacists has also soared by 87 per cent to $97,700 three years after graduation.
Despite the threat of AI, those working in the IT sector generally walked straight into a six-figure job after graduating.
Meanwhile, law salaries rose from $70,000 to $100,000 by the third year, while the data for engineers was virtually the same.
Scientists, however, were only paid about $85,000 after three years of work.
Teachers are inching towards the $100,000 mark ($92,500), with wages rising 28 per cent three years after graduation, while 88 per cent had found full-time work.
Nurses are earning, on average, $68,900 in their first job, with incomes rising 23 per cent to $85,000 in their third year of work.
Interestingly, some of the most expensive degrees leave graduates with among the lowest-paid jobs – if they can find employment at all.
The lowest paid jobs were generally for people who did degrees in creative arts, communications, architecture, nursing and science.
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Is it fair that some degrees lead to high salaries while others leave graduates struggling to find work?
Nurses are earning, on average, $68,900 in their first job, with incomes rising 23 per cent to $85,000 in their third year of work (stock)
A degree in creative arts will, on average, earn a new graduate only about $75,000.
Nearly 25 per cent of arts graduates couldn’t find full-time work within three years.
