Female law graduates entering the workforce in 2009 earned on average 8% less than male graduates, according to new research from the leading graduate careers authority in Australia.

The annual Graduate Careers Australia (GCA) survey found that, across the board, female graduates aged 25 and under who entered the workforce were paid 3% less than their male colleagues. Female law graduates were paid at 91.7% of male graduate wages last year in the legal profession, down from 97.9% in 2008.

In dollars this equates to A$53,000 for male law graduates and A$48,600 for females. GCA’s research associate David Carroll said this result was one of the worst seen for female law graduates in half a decade. “Gender pay equality in law has worsened. This result is lower than the 2004 result of 92.7%,” he said.

However, part of the statistical gap between males and females who completed law studies could be explained by the different career paths that law graduates chose, he said. “Female graduates may choose to work in a different field to male graduates,” he explained.

Carroll added that the gender pay gap between males and females has remained relatively stable across the 30-odd years the survey has been carried out. “Not a lot seems to have changed,” he said. 

The best-performing professions for graduate incomes were dentistry, with a median starting salary of A$70,000, optometry (A$64,500) and engineering (A$57,500).

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