In recent years OECD countries have prioritized international students as a human capital resource. To assess their labour migration outcomes, this article defines Australian employment rates the year after graduation by two measures. Our first in‐depth case study (drawing on the Graduate Destination Survey) compares international students' work status to that of domestic students in 11 professions, from 2007 to 2011. Our second case study (based on the Immigration Department's Continuous Survey of Australia's Migrants) reports the employment rates achieved from 2009 to 2011 by international students who have secured skilled migrant status in Australia, compared with those of skilled category applicants selected off‐shore. Empirical analyses such as these are rare in the existing study‐migration literature, which is dominated by policy and qualitative perspectives. The findings are relevant to international students as well as policymakers, in a context where governments frame migration policy but employers maintain the power to offer/withhold work.