How many graduates went into self employment straight after university?
The number of UK-domiciled graduates from the 2006/07 cohort who were self-employed or working freelance was 4,930 (3.3%). Data is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education (DLHE) survey collected six months after graduation.
Participation in self-employment/freelancing
- Of the 151,275 UK-domiciled first degree graduates who were in employment six months after graduation (including those in full-time paid work, part-time paid work, voluntary/unpaid work and work and further study), 4,930 (3.3%) were self-employed or working freelance.
- Although the actual numbers of graduates involved were relatively small, with 4.3% and 4.2% of HND and FD qualifiers respectively who were in employment being self-employed, these qualifiers were slightly more likely than first degree graduates to set up their own business six months following graduation.
Gender
- Amongst first degree self-employed graduates, over half (54.9%) were males. Self-employed males accounted for 4.3% of all male first degree graduates in employment compared with 2.5% for females.
- 4.4% of HND male qualifiers who were in employment were self-employed, which was similar to that for females (4.2%). On the contrary, male FD qualifiers who were self-employed accounted for 6.3% of the total number of male FD qualifiers in employment, compared with 3.2% for females.
Age
- Self-employed graduates tended to be older: over a third (34.8%) of the first degree graduates who were self-employed/working freelancing were aged 25 or over, compared with under a quarter (23.4%) of the total graduating cohort who were in employment. Moreover, over one in seven (15.3%) self-employed graduates were aged 40 or over, compared with one in 13 (7.6%) of the total reported to be in employment.
Ethnicity
- First degree graduates from ethnic minorities were, on the whole, less likely than White graduates to be self-employed six months after graduation: 2.8% of these graduates who were in employment were self-employed or freelancing, compared with 3.3% of White graduates.
However, certain minority ethnic groups showed higher self-employment rates than their White counterparts. These include Black British Caribbean (3.8%), Other Black background (5.7% but from a low base), Other Asian background (3.9%) and Other (including mixed) (4.1%).
Popular subjects
- The largest number of self-employed graduates were from design studies courses, accounting for three in 20 (15.3%) of the total self-employed. This was followed by graduates in music (7.6% of the total self-employed), drama (6.5%), fine art (5.5%) and cinematic & photography (4.6%).
- Looking at the number of self-employed within each subject area, complementary medicine had the highest percentage of graduates in self-employment amongst all subjects: over a third (36.5%) of complementary medicine graduates who were in employment six months after graduation were self-employed. Other subjects with high percentages of graduates in self-employment include music (19.3%), dance (14.9%) and fine art (14.4%)1.
Copyright © 2002-2012 HECSU | Content last updated: 1 Taking into account only those subjects with more than 50 graduates in employment.
