» Introduction
Traditionally, graduates from these subjects have a lower than average employment rate six months after graduation and tend to have a higher than average representation in postgraduate study. This is largely explained by a drive to acquire more specialist qualifications which are necessary for certain careers such as law, social work, psychology and teaching. However, as with all the data in What Do Graduates Do?, it is important to bear in mind that figures collected six months after graduation only tell a partial story about career prospects. » Destinations and types of work
Table 1 shows the destinations of graduates from the subjects covered in this section. - Economics - Nearly two-thirds (63.9%) of economics graduates from 2002 were in employment six months after graduation, with a strong representation in numerical and financial occupations. Just over 21% were working as business and finance professionals and 11.8% as business and financial associate professionals. An above average percentage were also found to be working as commercial, industrial and public sector managers (17.1%).
- Law - Over half (55.5%) of law graduates in 2002 chose postgraduate study compared with the overall graduate average of 18.7%, with many opting for vocational study in law ie the Legal Practice and Bar Vocational Courses. For those who did go into employment, 24.2% fell into the other professional/associate professional category, which includes some legal and paralegal occupations.
- Psychology - Psychology graduates have a strong representation (19.6%) in the other professional, associate professional & technical employment category which includes psychologist posts. However, 11% were working in the commercial, industrial and public sector managers category. Interestingly, the British Psychological Society (BPS) estimates that only 15-20% of psychology graduates actually end up working as professional psychologists.
- Geography - Geographers demonstrated an above average participation in postgraduate study at 22.9%, perhaps reflecting a desire to gain more specialist skills. Those in employment were highly represented in the commercial, industrial and public sector managers category (15.3%), which includes positions in general graduate schemes, and in the other professional, associate professional & technical category (11.8%). An interesting development for geography is a move from the Royal Geographical Society to enhance the discipline’s professionalism and confer chartered geographer status.
- Sociology - As with geography graduates, sociology graduates have a wide variety of destinations. A relatively high proportion (17.3%) entered the other professional, associate professional & technical category, which includes social care and community roles. In addition, 14.6% were found to be in the commercial, industrial and public sector managers category.
| | Table 1: The first destinations of social science 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 | | Economics | 2,800 | 2,715 | 63.9 | 70.8 | 17.6 | 16.2 | 7.8 | 4.9 | 10.8 | 8.1 | | Geography | 4,150 | 3,970 | 59.9 | 60.4 | 22.9 | 25.6 | 6.0 | 4.1 | 11.3 | 10.0 | | Law | 6,610 | 6,510 | 34.0 | 31.5 | 55.5 | 59.6 | 3.8 | 3.0 | 6.7 | 5.9 | | Psychology | 5,575 | 5,395 | 64.2 | 64.2 | 21.8 | 22.2 | 6.1 | 5.8 | 8.0 | 7.8 | | Sociology | 3,605 | 3,250 | 68.9 | 68.4 | 15.4 | 17.9 | 7.7 | 6.7 | 7.9 | 7.0 | | All social sciences | 22,740 | 21,845 | 55.3 | 55.2 | 30.3 | 32.6 | 5.9 | 4.7 | 8.6 | 7.5 |
It should be noted that a significant number of graduates from these subjects were found in what could be considered sub-graduate employment such as clerical and secretarial or retail and bar staff occupations. Many graduates, especially those from non-vocational subjects, take transitional or stop-gap jobs before they find a job that more clearly utilises their graduate skills. The research in Working Out and Moving On supports this view. » Salaries
Prospects Today advertisements from 1 May 2001 to 30 April 2003 record a mean salary of £19,054 for social science graduates. However, this represents only those employers who advertise in Prospects Today. A recent survey conducted by the Centre for the Economics of Education notes that economics and law graduates have strong earning potential. It estimates that a male law graduate earns on average 27.3% more than a peer who has a qualification level of two or more A-levels. For economics, the figure quoted is 26.8%. These figures are even higher for female graduates at 39.3% for economics and 43.8% for law. » Trends
Working Out, a survey of graduates 18 months after graduation, found that non-vocational social science graduates were more likely to have experienced difficulty in finding appropriate employment and were more likely to have opted for postgraduate study. Social science students all reported the importance of work experience and extracurricular activity in helping them secure employment. Moving On however, found that differences between graduates levelled out three years after graduation when most graduates were in professional occupations, management and administrative occupations or associate professional jobs. These findings from Moving On are reinforced by figures in the Spring 2002 edition of Graduate Market Trends, which reported that of those employees with a social science degree between the ages of 25-34, 80% were in professional/associate professional/ managerial jobs. In addition, a longitudinal survey from the Enterprise Centre at the University of Manchester gives an insight into the industry sectors which graduates from social sciences disciplines are more likely to enter. The survey concluded that financial, business, education and social work sectors were the biggest employers of social sciences graduates. » 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.
- Graduate Market Trends, Graduate Prospects, quarterly.
- Working Out? Graduates’ Early Experiences of the Labour Market, DFEE-CSU (now Graduate Prospects)-AGCAS-IER, 1999.
- Moving On - Graduate Careers Three Years after Graduation, DfEE-CSU (now Graduate Prospects)-AGCAS-IER, 1999.
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