Statistics Austria‘s recent findings reveal insights into the dynamics of individuals with different academic degrees. Notably, the reports show a noteworthy increase in earnings between those holding bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Specifically, the gross salary of individuals with a master’s degree working in a full-time position one year post-graduation has experienced a gradual increase, moving from €3,100 to €3,300 between the academic years 2008–09 and 2020–21.
In parallel, individuals with a bachelor’s degree have witnessed a positive trajectory in their monthly gross median income. Since 2012–13, individuals with bachelor’s degrees saw progress in income from €2,653 per month to €2,986 by the academic year 2020–21.
Despite this general trend, gender disparities persist among academic degree holders. In the 2020–21 academic year, an observation is that men with a bachelor’s degree, one year after completion, earn an equivalent amount to women holding a master’s degree. Men’s overrepresentation in higher-paying domains like science and communication technology and women’s prevalence in comparatively lower-paid sectors such as journalism, social science, and information primarily attribute to this divergence.
The report also sheds light on the starting salary dynamics for bachelor’s graduates, revealing an increase, particularly in fields such as health, education, and social work. Graduates in health and social work, for instance, received an average salary of around €3,200 in the 2020–21 academic year.
Moreover, the data reflects the employment landscape for both bachelor’s and master’s degree holders. On average, it takes approximately two months for bachelor’s degree holders to secure their first job. The employment rate for bachelor’s degree holders has shown a positive trajectory, with 81.8 percent employed one year after graduation in the 2020–21 academic year, compared to 77.3 percent in 2008–09.
Similarly, master’s degree holders have experienced an increase in post-graduation employment rates, rising from 84.3 percent in 2008/09 to 87.3 percent by the 2020/21 academic year.
