Australian Graduates are Still Getting Hired

Australian employer demand for graduates eased last year - the third consecutive annual decline - but has rebounded modestly in early 2026 says data from employment site Indeed. 

Hiring in occupations highly exposed to artificial intelligence fell more sharply than in other occupations, though the timing is too early for artificial intelligence to be the primary culprit. Data also shows no signs that jobseekers are finding it more difficult to find graduate work, with jobseeker activity unchanged in recent years.

Graduate recruitment often differs from conventional hiring. The hiring process often begins 6-12 months before candidates start, meaning changes in graduate demand today may reflect how employers expect Australia’s economy to evolve.

For employers, graduate recruitment is an investment in their business's future, snagging top-level talent that may take time to develop, but could become the leaders of tomorrow. Recently, however, that dynamic has shifted, with growing speculation that artificial intelligence can replace entry-level workers, even those with skills that would normally be in high-demand.

Graduate Demand Steady in Early 2026, Following Decline Last Year
In 2025, graduate job postings fell almost 15% compared to a year earlier, with opportunities down 35% from their peak in 2023. While graduate demand has cooled from its post-pandemic high, recent graduates need not despair.

Last year, there were still 1.5 times more graduate job postings than in 2019 and early signs suggest that graduate demand has stabilised in 2026. In the March quarter, graduate postings rose 6.4% compared with a year earlier, suggesting that graduate demand should again exceed pre-pandemic levels.

A key risk to that assessment is ongoing geopolitical tension, particularly conflict in the Middle East. An economic slowdown, both in Australia and globally, risks spooking employers and reducing hiring activity. It’s too early to see any impact in Indeed’s data, but the longer the conflict persists the greater the risk of a slowdown.

Graduate Hiring has Slowed Considerably in Victoria
Graduate hiring trends are broadly similar across the country, with one exception: Victoria. In 2025, graduate job postings in Victoria were 23% below their 2019 baseline, the only state to have dipped below that level. This likely reflects reduced graduate hiring among government departments and organisations in response to ongoing fiscal spending issues.

By comparison, in New South Wales graduate postings are still 37% above pre-pandemic levels, with Queensland and South Australia up 70% and 84%, respectively. And in the case of Western Australia and Queensland, there were more opportunities last year than the year before.

In early 2026, graduate demand appears to have increased across every state, including Victoria. However, Victorian postings continue to track well below pre-pandemic levels.

Graduate Recruitment Dominated by Engineering
In 2025, graduate roles accounted for 8.8% of all civil engineering job postings, ahead of project management (6.1%), mechanical engineering (5.1%) and electrical engineering (5.0%). Other sectors with notable graduate hiring included therapy, human resources, architecture and scientific research.

Graduate hiring intensity - the share of occupation job postings that are graduate roles - increased in a third of occupations last year, compared to the year before. In 2025, 3.5% of job postings in human resources were graduate opportunities, up around 2.7 percentage points from 0.8% a year earlier. Employers seeking civil engineering talent also increased hiring, with their graduate postings share rising 1.8 percentage points.

That was offset by reduced hiring intensity in project management and electrical engineering, down 2.3 percentage points and 1.2 percentage points, respectively.