Graduate Unemployment falls for second consecutive year

Architecture, Law and Civil Engineering have lowest graduate unemployment rates whilst IT sector indicates recovery

Graduate unemployment has dropped by half a per cent to 6.1 per cent, continuing its descent for the second year in succession, according to the latest ëWhat Do Graduates Do?í report out today. And, whilst Architecture, Law and Civil Engineering enjoy the lowest unemployment rates at 3.3, 3.8 ,and 3.9 per cent respectively, degrees offering the best immediate employment prospects for graduates appear to be in Marketing, 74.4 per cent; Media Studies, 71.3 per cent and Civil Engineering 71 per cent.

ëWhat Do Graduates Do? 2006 explores the career destinations of graduates who completed their studies in summer 2004, using data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, and this year presents a strengthening graduate labour market cautiously regaining ground lost in the aftermath of the dot com slump of the late nineties and the general slowdown of the early noughties.

Commenting on the findings, Mike Hill, chief executive of HECSU, which publishes the report in conjunction with AGCAS and UCAS, said:

ìThis latest report is good news for graduates and the economy; the highs of the mid nineties, when graduate unemployment hovered around five per cent, may seem a distant memory, but confidence has clearly returned and graduate recruiters are once more increasing their graduate intake. It is particularly pleasing to see a return to form for the IT sector where graduate unemployment has fallen from 14.6 per cent to 10.7 per cent, still higher than average but a definite move in the right direction.î

Other interesting changes this year include a slight decrease in the number of students choosing to work overseas, down to 1.9 per cent from 2.1 per cent last year ñ perhaps a reflection on current global uncertainties; an increase of 0.6 percentage points for graduates choosing to combine work with further study, which according to Hill, may reflect the growing need to earn while studying and may also account for a slight drop, 0.1 percentage points, of graduates going on to study for a further higher degree.

The most popular sector for new graduates is health: 12.8 per cent of the 2004 graduating cohort who were working six months after graduation went into health or health and associate professions, an increase of 0.4 percentage points over the previous year. This figure does, however, include nursing and other vocational medical qualifications. Other occupations attracting proportionally more graduates than the previous year include marketing, sales and advertising, up 0.8 percentage points to 4.3 per cent this year, plus IT professionals, up 0.2 percentage points to 3.9 per cent; and business and finance professionals, up 0.1 percentage points to 7.2 per cent.

The number of graduates entering clerical and secretarial occupations has increased by one percentage point to 12.3 per cent but, according to Mike Hill, this somewhat misleading category is often presented out of context by commentators:

ìWhile these positions may not be graduate level to begin with, many represent entry level jobs that swiftly become high level positions requiring graduate skills. Other studies have shown that within three years of graduating, 85 per cent of all graduates have a job for which a degree or equivalent is required.î

Looking at employment prospects across specific subject areas, unemployment rates for the sciences all fell significantly from 7.7 per cent to 6.3 per cent overall, and the proportion of graduates entering science professions fell from 1.2 per cent to 1.1 per cent. Sports science is a new WDGD? category this year and nearly 5000 graduates completed a degree in this subject in 2004. Graduates in this subject enjoy below average unemployment of just 5.1 per cent and the two most popular professional occupations for these graduates are sport and fitness professions, and education.

New data for music were also included for this yearís report and merged with existing information for drama to create a performing arts section. 5560 graduates achieved a performing arts degree and enjoy a slightly below average unemployment rate of six per cent. Not surprisingly, media and culture professions were most popular work destinations with these graduates, 18.5 per cent of whom entered this type of job; a further 14.4 per cent found jobs in education, often as music, dance or drama teachers.

In 2004, 11,730 graduates were awarded a degree in art and design and have an above average employment rate of 64.2 per cent. Although unemployment was high at 10.3 per cent, 29.2 per cent of working graduates went into arts, design, culture or media occupations, with commercial, graphic or fine art particularly popular. Management, at 6.8 per cent, was also popular with these graduates.

Looking at Humanities subjects, modern languages was the only subject area to fall in graduate numbers, all other subjects seeing more graduates than in 2003. The number of language graduates has dropped by 3.5 per cent since 1999 and employment rates fell from 59.3 per cent to 59 per cent with a compensatory rise in graduates combining work with study, up to 8.3 per cent from 7.9 per cent. Media studies in particular saw a sharp fall in unemployment from 10.2 per cent in 2003 to 9.2 per cent in 2004. Around a sixth, 15.5 per cent, of Arts and Humanities graduates continue their studies post graduation.

Management again was popular with language, English and history graduates, but proportions of graduates going into this field fell for these subjects, with business and finance and, for the latter two subjects, education, increasing. For language graduates there was the additional temptation of a career abroad, with 9.8 per cent going to work or study overseas.

Business and management remained the most popular degree with UK-domiciled 2004 graduates with around 21,000, 8.5 per cent of all graduates, receiving degrees in this field. Employment and further study rates increased for both subjects and unemployment was down to 6.0 per cent from 6.6 per cent the previous year. The proportion of working business and management graduates going into management fell, but was still at 21.5 per cent, with marketing and advertising professions and business and finance professions both rising. With the fall in the numbers of accountancy graduates, the proportion going into business and finance professions increased sharply by 6.1 percentage points to 41.2 per cent.

Marketing as a subject of study is included in the publication this year and 3080 graduates received a degree in this subject. With employment rates at 74.4 per cent, well above average, marketing and advertising professions were the most popular destinations for these graduates, with one in four, 25.8 per cent finding jobs in this field. A further 18.1 per cent went into management.

Maths and IT related subjects both increased their numbers of graduates by 230 and 1175 respectively, and unemployment for both fell for both, standing at 5.8 per cent for Maths graduates and 10.7 per cent for IT.

Numbers of engineering graduates fell in all subjects bar Civil Engineering but all related subject areas enjoy low unemployment rates and increasing rates of entry into engineering professions, a fact which also reinforces industry concerns that the falling supply of engineers may not be sufficient to cater for future demand.

All Social Science related subjects increased the number of graduates, with psychology graduates up by 1050, 17.9 per cent; and the number of Law degrees awarded topping 10,000 for the first time ñ one in 23 UK-domiciled first degree graduates from a UK university received a degree in Law in 2004. Despite the rise in numbers, employment prospects in this category remain strong and only geography and sociology have seen unemployment increase: from 4.4 per cent and 6.2 per cent to 5.2 per cent and 6.5 per cent respectively.

Management, a mainstay of employment for these subjects, was less popular for all social sciences except economics, but numbers entering business and finance professions increased.

The new WDGD? category of social and welfare professions also proved popular with 13.6 per cent of working psychology graduates, and 14 per cent of working sociology graduate entering these occupations. Nearly a fifth, 17.6 per cent of law graduates in employment within their first six months entered legal jobs, although many law graduates went on the further study that many of these professions require.

Politics is included for the first time and with 4020 graduates in 2004, the subject had an above average rate of further study for a higher degree, at 10.6 per cent, and a higher rate of work or study overseas, at 3.0 per cent. Management was the most popular profession for politics graduates, with one in seven, 14.4 per cent working graduates citing jobs in this field. Other professions more popular with these graduates were marketing and sales, at 7.2 per cent cent, business and finance, at 10.8 per cent, and social and welfare, at 3.4 per cent.

ìOverall we are seeing a robust graduate labour market with strong emphasis on the creative and technology sectors which attract large numbers of students and provide good employment prospects. What is particularly gratifying, however, is that despite more graduates looking for jobs each year, businesses seemingly cannot get enough of them and there are graduate jobs a plenty for those who employ good employment strategies such as gaining work experience, attending careers fairs and making tailored approaches to graduate recruiters,î concluded Mike Hill.