Australian-first research commissioned by the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research shows that graduates of non-government schools earn an average of 12 per cent more over their course of their careers than do their public school peers.

The income differential is attributed to the non-academic “soft” skills that private school students acquire making them good candidates for highly-paid upper managerial positions. “These findings suggest that private schooling may be important in not only fostering higher academic achievement, but also in better preparing students for a working life,” the paper says.

While the report focuses on the Catholic system, these results would also hold for graduates of independent private schools say study authors Nikhil Jha and Cain Polidano because of the sector’s “greater emphasis on the development of non-cognitive or soft skills that are important in explaining labour market outcomes.”

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Long-run Effects of Catholic Schooling on Wages: Nikhil Jha and Cain Polidano for the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research
https://www.melbourneinstitute.com/downloads/working_paper_series/wp2013n39.pdf

Coverage of the report in the Australian Financial Review
http://www.afr.com/news/policy/education/private-schooling-boosts-future-earnings-20140105-iybxe