» Introduction
The technology slump continued in 2002 with the number of IT graduates entering employment falling significantly and the number of those seeking work continuing to grow. For the first time the percentage of IT graduates in employment is below the average for all subjects. Graduates from mathematics also experienced negative changes in the job market with the employment rate for the subject falling to 55.1%. Although the salaries achieved by this group remain at a higher level than the average for all subjects, it is clear that these graduates must take a proactive approach in the job market and develop the business, as well as the technical, skills to fend off increasing competition for a finite number of vacancies. » Destinations
Table 1 shows the first destinations of IT and mathematics graduates in 2002 and 1999 six months after graduation. The figures reveal that both subject areas experienced significant falls in employment and marked increases in unemployment between these two periods. IT in particular reveals sharp changes with a 14.5 percentage point decline in employment concomitant with a 6.6 percentage point rise in unemployment to 14.6%. This represents the highest level of unemployment for any of the subject categories covered in What Do Graduates Do? 2004. | | Table 1: The first destinations of mathematical sciences and IT graduates 1999-2002 | | Numbers graduating (survey respondents) | Entering employment [%] | Entering further study/ training [%] | Unemployed at time of survey [%] | Other [%] | | 2002 | 1999 | 2002 | 1999 | 2002 | 1999 | 2002 | 1999 | 2002 | 1999 | | All first degree subjects | 176,390 | 176,205 | 66.9 | 68.5 | 18.7 | 19.2 | 6.9 | 5.5 | 7.5 | 6.8 | | Computing | 8,855 | 6,790 | 66.4 | 80.9 | 11.9 | 6.8 | 14.6 | 8.0 | 7.3 | 4.2 | | Mathematics | 2,895 | 2,945 | 55.1 | 62.2 | 28.5 | 27.0 | 8.6 | 5.1 | 7.8 | 5.7 | | Computing and mathematics | 11,750 | 9,735 | 63.6 | 75.3 | 16.0 | 12.9 | 13.1 | 7.1 | 7.4 | 4.7 |
The AGR Graduate Recruitment Survey 2003: Summer Review from the Association of Graduate Recruiters revealed a contraction in IT vacancies of 16% between 2002 and 2003. However, the high level of unemployment is not solely the result of a fall in demand. IT graduates are experiencing growing competition for vacancies from other graduates in the UK and, increasingly, from graduates from overseas. The number of applicants per IT vacancy went up to 22 in 2002 from 17 in 2001. This is at least party explained by the swelling number of IT-related courses now on offer at institutions and, in addition, companies’ increasing approaches to graduates from non-IT disciplines in an attempt to recruit individuals with transferable skills such as communication and teamwork. According to e-skills UK, 56% of entrants to IT are from non-IT degrees. The main recruitment issue for the IT industry, however, is the growing phenomenon of overseas outsourcing. Companies are relocating development to countries such as India to benefit from the cheaper, highly skilled labour on offer locally. Analyst firm Gartner has predicted that the European market for offshore outsourcing will grow by more than 40% this year and this could adversely affect jobs even at graduate level. The key to success in the IT-market lies in choosing a course with content relevant to industry and which nurtures in the undergraduate a business acumen to supplement technical knowledge. The growing percentage of IT graduates entering postgraduate study intimates this call from industry for up-to-date skills. Despite initiatives by the government and IT companies, the proportion of females on IT courses remains low. According to Computer Weekly only around a quarter of students on computer science courses are women. » Types of work
An examination of the types of work that graduates went into six months after graduation reveals that in 2002, 42.2% of IT graduates were working as IT professionals. While this proportion is relatively high, it does represent a fall of 12.7 percentage points on the year before and a 23.9 percentage point decline on the year 2000. In the meantime, the proportion of IT graduates entering clerical and secretarial positions, or retail assistant and bar work, has risen to just over 20%. Nearly a quarter (24.6%) of mathematics graduates who were in employment six months after graduation entered business and financial positions at a professional level and 6.6% entered at associate professional level. Seventeen per cent entered other clerical and secretarial occupations. Beyond this, destinations were diverse. » Salaries
Average starting salaries for IT and mathematics graduates remain above the figure for all subjects, according to an analysis of advertisements in the graduate vacancy bulletin Prospects Today. Figure 1 shows that the average salary offered to mathematics students was £18,882, for computer studies £18,844, and for any computer related course £19,743. Salary information illustrates that IT is still a lucrative sector. However, the onus is now on applicants to discern between higher education courses if they are to capitalise. 
» Contacts and resources
WebsitesResources on this siteGeneral linksPublicationsGraduate Prospects publicationsGraduate Prospects and AGCAS publications should be available in your university careers service. You can also order publications from us. - Prospects Today, Graduate Prospects, weekly.
Others- The AGR Graduate Recruitment Survey 2003: Summer Review, carried out for the Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) by High Fliers Research, July 2003.
- Computer Weekly, 7 November 2002
- Computer Weekly, 1 July 2003
- Computer Weekly, 30 January 2002
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