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March 2010:

ABCE audited figures

Unique Browsers:

1,167,672

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5,828,244

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

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What do graduates do - Scotland (Spring 08)

Scotland has a large public sector which has traditionally employed a significant proportion of graduates. Priority sectors include the creative industries, energy (including renewables, oil and gas), finance and business services (particularly in the cities), food and drink (including agriculture & fisheries), life sciences (including biotechnology and translational medicine) and tourism.

8.8% of UK-domiciled graduates from 2005/6 who were known to be in employment in the UK six months after graduating were working in Scotland. The region was known to employ 12,930 graduates from 2005/6 six months after graduating, down 1.6% from the year before, but up 4.7% from 2003/4. The proportion entering non-graduate employment fell steeply between 2003/4 and 2005/6, down from 37.3% to 30.2%, making graduates in Scotland the least likely in the UK to start work in a job that didn’t require a degree (see Table 1 and SOC(HE)). Rises in traditional, modern and, particularly, new graduate employment are one reason, along with a fall in absolute terms in the numbers of graduates entering non-graduate jobs.

Table 1. Graduate employment categories for graduates working in Scotland six months after graduating from 2003/4 to 2005/6
2003/42004/52005/6
Traditional graduate occupations13.6%13.4%14.4%
Modern graduate occupations12.4%12.2%13.4%
New graduate occupations12.7%13.1%14.6%
Niche graduate occupations24.1%27.6%27.4%
Non-graduate occupations37.3%33.6%30.2%

The health professions are particularly important in Scotland, and just over one in five graduates starting work in Scotland, 21.6%, were in health jobs in 2005/6 (Table 2). Over half were doctors or nurses, but there were also significant numbers of new pharmacists recruited. Management was also important in 2005/6, with retail managers, customer managers and managers in services industries all recruited in numbers.

Other common jobs for graduates starting work in Scotland included teachers (primary and secondary), chartered accountants, office clerks, sales assistants, social workers and mechanical engineers.

The largest increase in numbers recruited in the three years under consideration came in adult nursing, hospital nursing, mechanical engineering, secondary teaching, customer care management, chartered accountancy, records management and mining engineering.

The largest falls in numbers recruited from 2003/4 to 2005/6 came in bank clerks, office juniors, retail management, insurance clerks, occupational therapists and local government.

Scotland employed a higher share of graduates from 2005/6 as mining engineers, hydrographic surveyors, geologists, residential care managers, customer care managers, adult nurses, hospital matrons, records managers, electronic engineers and production engineers than its share of national employment would suggest. At least a fifth of graduates starting work in the UK in all of these professions, and more than half of graduates starting as mining engineers and hydrographic surveyors, did so in Scotland.

Table 2. Types of work for UK-domiciled graduates working in Scotland six months after graduating from 2003/4 to 2005/6
2003/42004/52005/6
Marketing, Sales and Advertising Professionals2.0%2.2%2.6%
Commercial, Industrial and Public Sector Managers8.4%8.5%9.2%
Scientific Research, Analysis & Development Professionals1.1%1.1%1.5%
Engineering Professionals3.9%4.2%4.8%
Health Professionals and Associate Professionals20.2%23.1%21.6%
Education Professionals6.8%6.9%7.4%
Business and Financial Professionals and Associate Professionals5.4%6.0%6.9%
Information Technology Professionals3.0%2.9%3.5%
Arts, Design, Culture and Sports Professionals3.3%3.9%4.1%
Legal Professionals0.4%0.4%0.6%
Social & Welfare Professionals3.8%3.5%4.1%
Other Professionals, Associate Professional and Technical Occupations5.6%5.3%5.3%
Numerical Clerks and Cashiers3.8%2.8%2.4%
Other Clerical and Secretarial Occupations8.9%8.2%7.1%
Retail, Catering, Waiting and Bar Staff11.0%10.4%9.7%
Other Occupations11.9%10.6%9.1%
Unknown Occupations0.4%0.1%0%
Total100%100%100%

The health and social sector dominates employment in Scotland more than in any other region of the UK (Table 3). 28.1% of working, UK-domiciled graduates from 2005/6 working in Scotland were employed in the health and social sector six months after graduating. Aside from the medical and nursing jobs mentioned above, social work, midwifery, radiography, mental health nursing, general practice dentistry and community nursing are all known to have recruited at least 100 graduates from 2005/6 in Scotland.

Table 3. Employment sectors for UK-domiciled graduates working in Scotland six months after graduating in 2005/6
Employment sectorPercentage of graduates
Health and social work28.1%
Education10.0%
Finance, law, consulting and related activities10.0%
Retail trade, except of motor vehicles and motorcycles9.7%
Public administration and defence; social security7.0%

Scottish graduates from 2005/6 were the least likely, with 30.9%, to have started work in an SME. They were also less likely than average to have found their job through recruitment agencies or personal contacts, and more likely to have got their job through their university careers service.

Content last updated: May 08