Yahoo Finance Here's how much your qualification is REALLY worth
With the number of new graduates our tertiary institutions are churning out each year steadily rising, you’d think the value of a degree would be going down.
But according to a new report by KPMG, this isn’t actually the case: Aussies who have completed higher education do indeed command higher salaries.
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Unsurprisingly, Aussies with higher education qualifications under their belt earn a significant premium: men can earn 19-20 per cent more than a Year 12 finisher, whereas women earn 15.4 per cent more.
Men with vocational qualifications see slightly higher wages (2.1 per cent in 2016) than Year 12 leavers. But this is not the case for women, who actually earn less with a vocational qualification than those who didn’t study past year 12.
Those who left school before year 12 earn approximately 10 per cent less than their counterparts who graduated high school.
“What can’t be doubted is that on average it is better to finish Year 12 than leave school after Year 11,” the report said.
The gender gap
It’s not news that men tend to earn more than women even if they’re both doing the same job.
Also read: The difference a decade has made on the super gender gap
But KPMG modelling has shown that, over a lifetime, a man with vocational qualifications at the peak of his career salary-wise (just over $80,000) will earn on average around $5,000 more than a woman with higher education qualifications (just under $75,000).
Also read: How big is the gender pay gap in your sector?
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