Nursing graduates find success in employment

Education and employment trends for nurses are ready to soar as statistics in the Good Universities Guide show.

Published by The Good Education Group, data shows that more than 250,000 jobs will be created over the next five years in healthcare.

Head of data and analytics Ross White said the starting salary for nurses fare pretty well, with the national rate being $58,000 per year. Dentists came in at $80,000 while pharmacist graduates started at $43,000.

“Nurses are well employed with the average graduate employment rate being around the 80 per cent mark,” White said.

While most people think that nurses work exclusively in clinical practice (looking after the sick or injured) and in hospitals, there is more variety than first appears.

For example, many work in community education, offices, schools or pharmaceutical companies, to name a few.

He attributed this to the high demand for health services, meaning pharmacists, rehabilitation and dentistry graduates found employment relatively easily.

“They came in the top quarter of all the fields we looked at and that’s really high,” he said.

“Aged care is contributing to the employment rate of nurses overall, it’s tipped for big growth and we anticipate strong figures over the next few years.”

Get the news delivered straight to your inbox

Receive the top stories in our weekly newsletter Sign up now