The median annual starting salary for Australian resident bachelor degree graduates rose to $49,000 in 2010, up from $48,000 last year, according to Graduate Careers Australia.
Despite the rise, the starting salary is $79.8% of the average male weekly wage of $61,400, compared to 83% in 2009. This is a reflection of continued recruiter uncertainty, according to Graduate Careers Australia, which conducted the survey graduates under the age of 25.
The survey shows which subjects earn graduates the highest wage. Dentistry students can expect a starting salary of $75,000 on average, the highest for in this year's group.
Dentistry students are followed by optometry graduates, who can expect starting salaries of $70,000, engineering at $56,000, medicine at $55,000 and earth sciences at $54,000.
Some graduates start on lower salaries because they must undertake further training before they can gain professional registration. For example, pharmacy graduates earned low starting salaries ($36,000) due to the further on-the-job training they require.
There are still differences between the starting salaries for male and female graduates, according to the survey. Females earned notably higher starting salaries than males in the fields of dentistry ($3,500 more) and physical sciences and psychology (both $2,500 more).
However, they earned markedly less than males in the fields of architecture and building and earth sciences (both $5,000 less) and economics and business ($4,700 less).