Graduates from Sydney's major universities are earning up to 10 per cent more than their Melbourne counterparts just a few years after finishing their degrees.
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And while nine in 10 graduates are in full-time work a few years out of university, the short and medium-term employment prospects of university leavers are struggling to return to their pre-global financial crisis levels.
The figures are contained in a new report which for the first time reveals university-by-university data on graduates' earnings in their first years in the workforce.
Tracking the class of 2014, the survey found that by 2018, graduates of the six largest universities in NSW earned a median salary of at least $70,000 - except for Western Sydney University, where the median was $67,000.
By contrast, of Victoria's six largest universities, the only institution to reach the $70,000 threshold was Monash.
There was a significant gap in the median earnings for graduates of the two cities' leading sandstone universities, with the University of Sydney's class of 2014 now pulling in a median salary of $73,000, compared with $65,000 for the University of Melbourne.
Four years after finishing their undergraduate degree, graduates of the six biggest NSW universities had a median full-time income of $73,460 compared with $67,400 for their Victorian equivalents - a difference of close to 10 per cent.
The northern advantage was assisted by the University of NSW, with its large contingent of business and engineering students, who enjoyed higher starting salaries and by 2018 had a median full-time salary of $77,500.
At Charles Sturt University, which is chiefly based in regional NSW but also has a large cohort who study by distance, the median income was even higher at $78,300.
The results indicate Sydney graduates enjoy a wage advantage from their first days in the workforce. Census data shows overall median household income remains higher in Sydney ($1750 a week) than Melbourne ($1542).
Based on responses from 40,000 graduates, the government-funded Graduate Outcomes Survey measures the medium-term success of university leavers. This year it broke down its results by institution for the first time - however the response rate varied from university to university.
Nationally, the survey found 89.2 per cent of graduates were in full-time work four years after completing their undergraduate degree - which remains a few percentage points lower than in the early 2010s.
"Since the global financial crisis, it has taken graduates who had completed undergraduate qualifications longer to successfully establish themselves in their careers," according to the report compiled by the Social Research Centre.
Employment prospects were uneven, but all universities that participated in the survey had more than 81 per cent of their 2014 graduates in full-time work by 2018. At Charles Sturt, Murdoch, UTS and the Australian National University, more than 92 per cent of graduates worked full-time.
Federal Education Minister Dan Tehan said the results were strong and reflected the government's efforts to create jobs and keep unemployment low.
"It’s no surprise university graduates are in demand with a higher education qualification proving to be a solid pathway to employment," he said.
Universities Australia chief executive Catriona Jackson said the survey confirmed the financial benefits of tertiary education, with female graduates earning $14,000 more than school leavers and male graduates about $12,500 more.
However, the gender pay gap persisted for graduates within some disciplines. Four years university, men in pharmacy earned $10,300 more than women, or about 12 per cent. For nurses, the difference was $8600 or 11 per cent.
The disciplines with the highest overall salaries four years after finishing undergraduate degrees were dentistry ($110,000) and medicine ($98,400) - which were significantly ahead of engineering ($77,000) and law ($76,000).
The areas of study with the lowest rates of full-time employment after four years were humanities, creative arts, psychology and communications, with fewer than 85 per cent in full-time work.
More than two thirds of those who were working full-time rated their university qualification as important or "very important" to their current job. Close to 11 per cent said their degree was "not that important" and 6 per cent said it wasn't important at all.
