Many students from India have traditionally looked at Australia as their destination for higher, vocational or occupational studies. There are, in Australia, as many career options as there are courses. Medicine, Finance, Construction and Engineering industries afford excellent opportunities overall. Let us take a look at some salaries and compensation figures.

Salary charts and comparisons
The reputed and widely accepted reports published by Hays, Australia indicate that the following 15 areas were the 2007 hotspots with the strongest demand across all market sectors nationally:

• Accountancy & Finance (commerce & industry): Finance managers, auditors with financial services experience, experienced financial accountants with an FMCG background, qualified and operational accountants and payroll staff.
• Accountancy & Finance (professional practice): Professional practice accountants remain in high demand and short supply. High demand for; audit staff, middle management staff, senior management, insolvency staff and those in tax and business services.
• Architecture: CAD technicians, registered architects, interior designers, urban designers and documenters.
• Banking: Credit analysts, business banking offices, senior corporate commercial and business banking candidates and banking support staff. Financial planners, dealer’s assistants, client services and customer service staff are also in demand.
• Construction: Senior estimators, contract administrators, project managers, experienced and reliable forepersons and quantity surveyors.
• Engineering: In general, engineers are presented with excellent employment prospects across a wide variety of Australian markets long term. In particular demand are mid-level to senior management consultants, civil and structural engineers, electrical engineers, designers, fire safety, mechanical and electrical design engineers, surveyors and environmental engineers and scientists.
• Facilities Management: Project managers, facility managers with a trade background and building managers and supervisors.
• Human Resources: Human resources specialists, EHS and OHS candidates.
• Information Technology: .NET developers, project managers, ICT professionals and Business Analysts.
• Legal: Mid level lawyers in corporate, banking and financial services. In private practice competition lawyers are in high demand while there is a general shortage at the mid level across all disciplines. Energy and resources lawyers are in particular demand in Queensland and Western Australia.
• Office Support: Receptionists at the entry level, career receptionists who can multi-task, administrators, personal and executive assistants (particularly for the legal industry), medical secretaries and office managers.
• Procurement: Contract managers, procurement managers, planning/forecasting analysis, vendor managers and category managers.
• Property: Licensed practising valuers, commercial client side project managers, property managers, lease administrators and senior valuers.
• Sales & Marketing: Business development managers across all industries and experienced salespeople in the industrial and manufacturing industries.
• Resources & Mining: Project managers, contracts administrators and managers, project controllers and study managers.

(Source: Hays Quarterly Forecast)

Various sources on the Internet that quote official government data have summed up the occupation-earning matrix in the US in the following manner:
Median Annual Wage and Salary Income– These are averages only. Individual earnings vary by many individual factors.

• Managers and administrators- 47,611
• Professionals- 45,640
• Associate professionals- 39,594
• Tradespersons and related workers- 35,091
• Advanced clerical and service workers- 31,835
• Intermediate clerical, sales and service workers- 26,842
• Intermediate production and transport workers- 37,071
• Elementary clerical, sales and service workers- 17,102
• Labourers and related workers- 24,072
• Not stated- 29,819

(Source: ATO Income Tax Data. All salaries in Aus $)

Salaries by disciplines
Dentists draw the highest in Australia ($60,000, starting salaries). The latest report from Graduate Careers Australia, which lists median annual starting pay for various fields of study, says graduates in medicine and optometry rank next, at Aus $50,000.
Other areas of study (median annual salary in Aus $):

• Engineering ...................42,000
• Education .....................40, 000
• Mathematics .................. 41, 000
• Law ...........................39, 000
• Earth Sciences ................39, 000
• Computer Science ..............39, 000
• Paramedical Studies ...........38, 000
• Social Work ...................37, 000
• Psychology ....................38, 000
• Physical Science ..............36, 000
• Biological Sciences ...........36,000
• Veterinary Science ............36,000
• Accounting ....................35,000
• Economics, Business ...........35,000
• Humanities ....................35,000
• Agricultural Science ..........35,000
• Architecture & Building .......34, 000
• Social Sciences ...............34,000
• Art & Design ..................32,000

Here is a look at the best paying physician careers in Australia:

• Anaesthetist- Aus $ 250,000
• Ophthalmologists - Aus $ 240,000
• General Practitioner- Aus $ 100,000
• Specialists- Aus $ 200,000

Anaesthesiologists are the top salary getters in this group.

How much is good enough? According to various published reports, the median salary for an earned Bachelors degree is Aus $38,000. This has gone up marginally, by $1000, from the previous years. You can expect your salary to veer accordingly, depending on your opted course/subject and level of education.