Women graduates paid less
Male graduates are prepared to be unemployed in the search for the 'perfect job'.
Also In The News
|
Published by Avon, out now, paperback, 406pp, £6. |  |
Tuesday, 06, Nov 2007 09:58
Male graduates earn £1,000 more than their female counterparts within three years of leaving university, according to a new study published today.
Some 25,000 students were tracked in the three years after graduation as part of the largest ever survey of graduate experiences by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa).
While 39 per cent of male graduates are earning over £25,000 three years after graduating, just 27 per cent of women earn the same amount.
The study found that women are more likely to be working part-time than men at every level as well as being more prepared to take entry-level jobs before working their way up the career ladder.
Catherine Benfield, head of the Hesa research project, told the Guardian: "Women accept that they may take a job below their expectations and work up from there. Men would rather be unemployed and searching for that perfect job.
"Women are more likely to be satisfied with their careers than men, though."
Some 40 per cent of female graduates considered themselves "very satisfied" with their jobs, compared with 34 per cent of men.
The study also revealed the influence of ethnicity on graduates' career paths, with three quarters of Asian and white graduates employed in full time work three years after graduation compared to 67 per cent of black graduates.
While black graduates are more likely to have continued their studying in the three years after completing their degree, they are also twice as likely to be unemployed, with five per cent without work, compared to two per cent of white graduates.