Recent university graduates are struggling to find full-time work despite the growth in overall employment, with one in five employed university leavers unhappily working part-time in 2017.

Although there have been small improvements since 2014, employment outcomes for new graduates are still significantly worse than before the global financial crisis – despite a general employment boom.

Four months after leaving university, 71.8 per cent of undergraduates are in full-time employment. Credit:Rob Homer

But in the medium-term – three years after leaving university – almost 90 per cent of graduates were in full-time work, with two-thirds saying their degree was important or very important to their current job.

And in an encouraging sign, the gender pay gap for undergraduates narrowed to a record low of 1.9 per cent, according to the 2017 Graduate Outcomes Survey released overnight by the federal government.