Money’s not everything for students

Tauranga work and education providers are urging people not to decide on a career based on future income, despite the launch of a new tool allowing students to compare the earning potential of professions.

Careers New Zealand has launched a new career planning tool that gives students the ability to compare their potential earnings across various industries and levels of study.

2012 Otumoetai College head students are preparing for their futures. Photo: Otumoetai College.

The launch of the new tool coincides with the recent release of new data from the Ministry of Education that highlights the differences in earning potential for graduates according to the level of qualification they have reached and how many skilled workers are in the industry.

Tertiary education, Skills and Employment Minister Steven Joyce says the online calculator will be useful for those considering their study options.

'The data shows the top earners with a bachelor's degree are graduates in medicine, earning around $110,000 five years after leaving study. This is nearly three times as much as a performing arts graduate,” says Steven.

Former Otumoetai College head boy Shane Murphy will begin a Bachelor of Performing Arts in Wellington in February, but says he didn't choose his course based on its earnings potential.

He says he was encouraged to pursue what he enjoyed doing by careers support staff at his college.

'I found personally more supported doing what I wanted to do rather than what I wanted to earn,” he says.

Figures in the report reveal higher levels of study correlate to a higher wage than the national median.

Five years after finishing study median earnings for bachelors graduates are 53 per cent higher than the national median wage. Masters graduates are 86 per cent higher and those that complete a doctorate earn on average 121 per cent more than the median wage.

Steven hopes the figures will encourage students to consider taking their education to as higher level as possible.

'It's very clear that study at higher levels improves your career prospects. I encourage young people to take every advantage they can of their tertiary studies opportunity to obtain the skills to compete in the modern world,” he says.

Otumoetai College principal Dave Randell says the careers team at the college don't place alot of emphasis on earnings potential and advises students to first begin thinking about what they enjoy doing, and gain some valuable work experience, before committing to a degree.

The college liaises with Priority One Tauranga's INSTEP programme that introduces students into the local business community.

INSTEP manager Lyn Parlane says there has been an attitude shift in younger generations who are more concerned with job satisfaction as opposed to high salaries.

'They tend to want other things as well. They want to know there's room for promotion. There are different ways of rewarding people,” she points out.

She says it is important people are happy and passionate about what they do as this leads to better productivity.

Dave says students at the college are encouraged to begin thinking about their career choices in Year 10 in order to pinpoint their subject choices and are offered a substantial amount of support from the schools careers department.

'There's a huge amount of support and we spend a lot of time with the students identifying their individual needs.”

Of the 100 of his former Year 13 students starting study at Waikato University this year 80 will start a bachelor's degree, 15 a diploma and five in apprenticeships.

He says the figures show a lot about the varying needs of individual students and their career paths.

'That piece of paper opens a lot of doors but it's not the be all and end all.”

About 80 per cent of his Year 13 graduates will go on to complete tertiary study, Dave says.

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