The proportion of domestic graduates employed full-time four to six months after course completion decreased in 2024 across all study levels. The largest drop was among those with undergraduate degrees, falling from 79.0 per cent in 2023 to 74.0 per cent in 2024. In contrast, postgraduate coursework and postgraduate research graduates had higher full-time employment rates in 2024 of 88.1 per cent and 82.8 per cent respectively, with smaller declines of 2.2 and 2.5 percentage points year on year. The downward trend in 2024 is a reflection of the continued easing of the tight labour market conditions experienced in 2022 and 2023.

Further details are available in the 2024 GOS National Report and the data visualisation above.

Results for international graduates are available in the 2024 GOS International Report.

The GOS is completed by graduates approximately four months after completion of their studies. It provides information on the labour market outcomes and further study activities of graduates. Employment data collected includes information on salaries, occupation and skills utilisation. The GOS has been administered annually since 2016.

Recent graduates of Australian higher education institutions are in scope for the GOS, including at undergraduate, postgraduate coursework and postgraduate research level. Information is collected for both domestic and onshore international graduates, however published results refer to domestic graduates only.

The GOS uses labour force definitions which conform to the conceptual framework of the standard labour force statistics model used by the Australian Bureau of Statistics. Full-time employment relates to graduates employed for 35 hours or more per week. Overall employment relates to graduates employed for one or more hours per week.

Information on the ComparED website about graduate employment outcomes and satisfaction is sourced from the GOS, including responses from domestic undergraduate and postgraduate coursework level graduates. Survey results from the three most recent collection years are pooled to improve data reliability. Three indicators of graduate labour force outcomes are displayed on the ComparED website:

1. Graduates in full-time employment
2. Graduates in overall employment
3. Graduates in full-time study

90 per cent confidence intervals are displayed to provide a measure of accuracy of the estimates. For technical details about the calculations used to score data derived from the GOS, please see the document, GOS Methodology for ComparED Website.

The CEQ provides information about the quality of higher education in Australia, by asking graduates to what extent they agree with a series of statements about their study experiences. It is administered annually in conjunction with the GOS. The CEQ is completed by undergraduate and postgraduate coursework level graduates of Australian higher education institutions, including both domestic and international onshore graduates.

From the 2021 GOS collection cycle, only one overall satisfaction item from the CEQ is being funded by the Department of Education, Skills and Employment. The CEQ in its entirety can be included by institutions on an opt-in basis, funded by individual institutions wanting to participate.

The ‘Overall satisfaction’ item from the CEQ is displayed on the ComparED website, including responses from both domestic and international onshore graduates, at undergraduate and postgraduate coursework level. Survey results from the two most recent collection years are pooled to improve the reliability of the information.

90 per cent confidence intervals are displayed to provide a measure of accuracy of the estimates. For technical details about the calculations used to score data derived from the CEQ, please see the document, CEQ Methodology for ComparED Website.