Press release 114

Press release 114

Graduate unemployment under 6% for those with best degrees

HESA's Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education 2005/06, published this week, reveals that levels of unemployment vary by degree classification. Graduates obtaining the lowest degree classifications are around two and a half times more likely to be unemployed six months after graduating than those obtaining firsts.

The publication, produced from the annual Destination of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) Survey, reveals that 4.4% and 5.7% of students obtaining, through full-time study, first and upper second class honours respectively are "assumed to be unemployed"; that is those not in full-time study who reported themselves as unemployed and looking for employment, further study or training, or those due to start a job in the next month. In comparison, 8.1% of students were assumed to be unemployed when qualifying with a lower second, this rose to 11.3% for a third - a little over two and a half times the rate of those with a first and nearly twice the overall rate of 6.4%.

Leavers with degrees which are not subject to classification have the lowest unemployment rate, with just 3.5% of graduates assumed to be unemployed. These degrees include the subject areas of medicine and dentistry, and veterinary science. The latest data shows that just 0.2% of first degree qualifiers in medicine and dentistry were assumed to be unemployed, while the figure for their counterparts in veterinary science is 2.1%. It should be noted that medicine and dentistry is a quota controlled subject area.

The data in this analysis is based on responses from 188,330 UK and EU domiciled qualifiers who were awarded first degrees following full-time study in 2005/06 and whose post-university destination is known. Of these, first-class honours accounted for 12.3% of awards, upper seconds for 48.4%, lower seconds for 28.5%, thirds for 4.9% and unclassified degrees for 6.0%.

Since the 2004/05 DLHE survey, there has been a fall in the proportion of students assumed to be unemployed across all degree classifications as shown in the table below.

Table 1 Percentage of full-time, first degree students assumed to be unemployed by degree classification

Examination of UK full-time first degree domiciled graduates who are assumed to be unemployed revealed differences by gender. In 2005/06, 8.1% (8.5% in 2004/05) of 77,345 males and 5.1% (5.2%) of 104,140 females were assumed to be out of work six months after graduating.

Overall, of all full-time leavers who obtained their first degree and whose destination was known, 63.4% (63.2% in 2004/05) went into work only; this breaks down into 54.3% (54.5%) entering self-employment or full-time work, 8.0% (7.8%) working part-time only, and 1.0% (0.9%) doing voluntary work only. A further 8.4% (8.2%) combined work and further study, while 16.1% (16.0%) undertook further study only. Meanwhile, 6.4% (6.6%) were assumed to be unemployed and 4.6% (4.9%) were not available for employment. Finally, 1.2% (1.1%) were involved in other activities.

Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education 2005/06 is an annual publication available from HESA containing reports and analysis from the annual national DHLE survey and includes details on leavers entering employment, leavers undertaking further study plus a range of other activities. It provides a valuable resource for anyone interested or involved in HE research, policy, analysis or media related activities. An extract from one of the many tables within this publication, and on which this press release is based, is reproduced below:

Table 2 Destinations of leavers who obtained first degree qualifications through full-time study by class of first degree 2005/06

Notes for Editors

Press enquiries should be directed to:

Greg Wells

HESA Press Officer

01242 211133

greg.wells@hesa.ac.uk

95 Promenade, Cheltenham, GL50 1HZ.

When using this material please credit HESA's Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Institutions 2005/06.

All numbers in this press release are rounded to the nearest multiple of 5.

Notes to tables:

#2. Percentage of known destination excludes those who replied to the survey but explicitly refused to give information and is expressed as a percentage of all students from whom a destination of leavers record was expected.

#3. Students of unknown location of employment are included in total figures, but not in separate breakdowns. Unlike years prior to 2003/04, the UK domiciled students whose location of employment was given as unknown are not being assumed to have remained within the UK.

#4. Lower second class degree includes ‘undivided' second class honours.

Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education 2005/06 is available to purchase from HESA Customer Services as a combined book and CD-ROM for £50 plus £5.95 VAT. For more information telephone 01242 211155 or see our products page at http://www.hesa.ac.uk/index.php?option=com_pubs&Itemid=122#item1708.

HESA advise you to take the data definitions on the next page into account when examining the data.

ENDS