The line graph compares alumni of math and other spheres who got full-time jobs having graduated from an Australian University between 2004 and 2012, with the units being measured in percentage, while the table shows how much these graduates earned on average during the period.
The overall proportion of math graduates did not see major changes, but it was the reverse for that of other graduates, with the figures reaching a peak in 2006. The average salary both types of graduates made rose successively, with the year 2008 showing the highest gap in salary growth.
The share of math graduates who had a full-time job after their graduation of a university in Australia always accounted for above three-quarters and remained almost similar in these years, excepting 2008, a year when the percentage peaked at about 78%. As for the full-time employment rate of other graduates, on the other hand, it was unsteady. For example, their proportion increased markedly from around 60% in 2004 to a peak of roughly 80% two years later. In 2012, after a consecutive decline through the years, it showed the same exact point recorded back in 2004.
In 2004 and 2006, math and other graduates were paid an identical salary on average, at $41,000 and $43,000 respectively. In 2008, while the former experienced $7000 growth, the latter had only a $2000 salary increase. The variation in their earnings amounted to $4000 in 2010 and 2012, the respective years when math graduates received $51,000 and $56,000, and other graduates had a salary of $47,000 and $51,000.