School leavers are shunning a university education to take advantage of the mammoth salaries flowing from the resources boom and skills shortage.
Heading straight into the workforce and getting on-the-job training is an attractive proposition in boom-towns where newcomers can walk into huge money.
“Particularly in Queensland and Western Australia we’re seeing many school leavers heading straight out to the mines and putting university and tertiary education on the back burner,” says Peter Carey, National President of the Career Development Association of Australia.
Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows the average mining salary tops $100,000 a year – that’s $1939 gross a week, which is $800 a week more than the average worker.
Trades are no different, with the skills shortage meaning big bucks are available sooner rather than later.
Construction workers’ wages jumped almost 8% last year to an average of $1140 a week. These pay rates compare to graduate earnings which range from as low as $35,000 for pharmacy graduates up to $51,887 for engineers.
Traineeships and "earn while you learn" apprenticeships is one way to get ahead.
“With the way of the world today people need to work to survive and TAFE and traineeships often provide more work-ready skills than universities,” Mr Carey said.
“Student debt and poor workforce planning is influencing a move towards more practical learning,” he said.
Eddie Dobosz from Apprenticeships Australia believes traineeships are no longer only an option for those who can’t get into university.
“A lot of people want to do training that gets them to the top quickly and furthering your skills later on in your career, via a degree is always an option,” he said.
The latest ABS data indicates enrolments in TAFE courses have increased by 4% over recent years with practical learning undergoing a revival.
The uni route is not so friendly on the wallet either, with the average university graduate being $8500 in debt when they finish their course. According to ABS, over 1.2 million people pay for university via FEE-HELP or HECS, with 6% owing more than $20,000.
So where does a degree matter?
Andrew Williams, general manager at LINK Recruitment says that if it’s law, accounting or engineering you’re looking into then you’ve got no choice but to hit the books.
“However sales, commerce and business are professions more competitive driven than reliant upon an employee’s tertiary education,” he said.
Assessing what’s important to you and where you want your career to go is the most important thing when it comes to choosing where to study, advises Mr Williams.
“Depending on where you want to be, a university degree may not be necessary,” he said.
