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Figures for Prospects.ac.uk

March 2010:

ABCE audited figures

Unique Browsers:

1,167,672

Page Impressions:

5,828,244

(Note: ABCE are now using the term Unique Browsers instead of Unique Users)

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What do graduates do - Northern Ireland (Spring 08)

The Northern Irish graduate economy has a strong reliance on the public sector, with strategies in place to try to grow the financial services, ICT and tourism industries.

3.1% of UK-domiciled graduates from 2005/6 who were known to be in employment in the UK six months after graduating were working in Northern Ireland. The region was known to employ 4,605 graduates from 2005/6 six months after graduating. The number of graduates starting work in Northern lreland varied by less than 1% over the three years and is quite stable. The proportion entering non-graduate employment went up slightly between 2003/4 and 2005/6, from 36% to 37%, but this actually translates to less than 60 more graduates in three years (Table 1).

Table 1. Graduate employment categories for graduates working in Northern Ireland six months after graduating from 2003/4 to 2005/6
2003/42004/52005/6
Traditional graduate occupations13.0%12.3%13.1%
Modern graduate occupations12.4%12.8%13.8%
New graduate occupations13.5%12.6%13.3%
Niche graduate occupations25.1%25.0%22.8%
Non-graduate occupations36.0%37.3%37.0%

Health jobs remain the most common first destination for graduates starting work in Northern Ireland, but the proportion entering these jobs six months after graduating fell between 2003/4 and 2004/5 (Table 2). This was not due to falls in the most common jobs - junior doctors and hospital nurses, which both rose – but rather falls in a number of the less common, but still important, occupations. The number of graduates working as midwives, physiotherapists, adult nurses, general practice nurses and hospital matrons in Northern Ireland six months after graduating all fell over the three-year period.

2003/4 also saw a large number of retail managers recruited, and these numbers were not repeated in subsequent years – the reason for the fall in the proportion of graduates entering management.

Other common jobs for new graduates in Northern Ireland in 2005/6 included teaching (both primary and secondary), pharmacy, office clerking, chartered accountancy, sales assistants, social work and software design and engineering.

The largest increase in numbers between 2003/4 and 2005/6 came in social work, pharmacy, hospital nursing, office work, sales, computer programming, personnel officers and paralegals.

The largest falls in numbers recruited from 2003/4 to 2005/6 came in primary teaching, adult nursing, hospital matrons, service managers, midwives, local government and physiotherapists.

Northern Ireland employed a higher share of graduates from 2005/6 as educational psychologists, solicitors, building technicians, hospital matrons, pharmacists and electrical engineers than its share of national employment would suggest.

Table 2. Types of work for UK-domiciled graduates working in Northern Ireland six months after graduating from 2003/4 to 2005/6
2003/42004/52005/6
Marketing, Sales and Advertising Professionals2.8%2.7%3.3%
Commercial, Industrial and Public Sector Managers9.2%7.8%7.7%
Scientific Research, Analysis & Development Professionals0.8%0.7%0.8%
Engineering Professionals3.4%3.7%4.2%
Health Professionals and Associate Professionals20.8%20.2%17.7%
Education Professionals7.9%7.6%7.0%
Business and Financial Professionals and Associate Professionals5.0%4.8%5.1%
Information Technology Professionals3.2%3.8%4.3%
Arts, Design, Culture and Sports Professionals2.3%2.6%3.2%
Legal Professionals1.8%1.8%2.1%
Social & Welfare Professionals 3.4%3.0%4.1%
Other Professionals, Associate Professional and Technical Occupations5.0%5.4%5.3%
Numerical Clerks and Cashiers3.8%4.4%4.3%
Other Clerical and Secretarial Occupations10.2%10.5%10.9%
Retail, Catering, Waiting and Bar Staff9.7%11.3%10.0%
Other Occupations10.4%9.7%9.8%
Unknown Occupations0.2%0.1%0.1%
Total100%100%100%

Just under a quarter of UK-domiciled graduates from 2005/6 who were working in Northern Ireland six months after graduating were employed in the health sector (Table 3). Aside from jobs mentioned above, other important jobs in the sector included management, psychology (clinical and educational), occupational therapy, radiography and medical science.

One in eight graduates were in finance, law and related sectors – the main jobs here were in accountancy, law and office work.

Table 3. Employment sectors for UK-domiciled graduates working in the Northern Ireland six months after graduating in 2005/6
Employment sectorPercentage of graduates
Health and social work24.6%
Finance, law, consulting and related activities12.1%
Education10.9%
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles14.0%
Public administration and defence; social security7.1%

Northern Ireland had much the largest proportion of graduates entering SMEs six months after graduating, with more than half, 52.9%, employed by a small or medium sized enterprise. Graduates working in Northern Ireland were more than twice as likely as the average graduate to have found their job through a newspaper or magazine advertisement, with 30.2% using this method, and also were the most likely in the UK to have got their job through their university careers service. They were the least likely to have used a recruitment agency or an employer’s web site to find their current job.

Content last updated: May 08