7th November 2011

For most building and engineering graduates in the UK, employment is steadily increasing and unemployment is slowly decreasing, according to research published today (7 November 2011) by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU).

HECSU’s annual, What Do Graduates Do? reports the destinations of full and part-time first degree building and engineering graduates, six months after leaving university in 2010. Across all of the graduates studying architecture, building or engineering, 70.9% (11,885 graduates) were in employment – a 14.5% increase on 2009 graduates – and unemployment has gone down from 11.6% to 10%.

The figures also show a breakdown in employment rates by degree subject:

• Architecture and building graduates - unemployment fell from 10.9% to 9.5% and employment rose from 68% to 73.2%
• Civil engineering graduates - unemployment decreased from 11.9% to 11.4% and employment increased from 67.7% to 69%
• Electrical and electronic engineering graduates - unemployment fell 2.1 percentage points to 11.2% and employment rose 5.9 percentage points to 69.6%
• Mechanical engineering graduates - unemployment went down from 11.8% to 9.3% and employment increased from 65.5% to 70.3%

Charlie Ball, deputy research director at HECSU says: “The employment market for engineers and architects was hit particularly hard by the recession, but the data shows that there are signs of a welcome recovery in their job prospects. Despite some difficult recent times, students looking to start engineering and building-related degrees can expect to be in demand once the economy strengthens, as they were before the recession.”

2010 has seen a small but encouraging turnaround for the overall graduate labour market. 69.7% (163,090 graduates) were in employment – a 7.9% increase on 2009 graduates - and unemployment has gone down from 8.9% to 8.5%. In addition, a record number (100,265 or 63.4%) secured graduate level jobs – a 9.2% increase.

Ball adds: “While graduate unemployment has fallen, it remains high in comparison to levels reported at the beginning of the recession and graduates still face stiff competition - not just from their peers but also from more recent graduates.

“Many parts of the graduate employment market remain fragile, and recovery has not spread to all sectors or regions of the country. The jobs market for graduates is still vulnerable to bad economic weather and a continued recovery cannot be guaranteed in the current climate.”

HECSU’s What Do Graduates Do? also reports graduate starting salaries. Building and engineering graduates earn above the average wage of all first degree graduates (£19,794). Graduates who studied civil engineering, mechanical engineering, and electrical and electronic engineering earned on average £22,819, £23,993 and £21,852 respectively. Architecture and building graduates earned on average £20,527.

There are however, notable regional variations in salaries. For example, electrical and electronic engineers earn an average of £18,800 in Humber to £24,500 in Scotland. Civil engineers take £19,000 in Northern Ireland to £25,600 in London, whereas mechanical engineer salaries vary from £19,700 in the North East to £26,500 in Scotland.

Tweet