STEM and research careers
Employment outcomes of engineering graduates: key factors and diversity characteristics
11/06/2015
CRAC was commissioned by the Royal Academy of Engineering to undertake an in-depth investigation of the progression and transition into employment of recent engineering graduates over the past five years. The report Employment outcomes of engineering graduates: key factors and diversity characteristics provides data on both first destinations (six months after graduation) but also longer-term employment outcomes from graduates in the same cohort. In general, the employment outcomes are very positive compared to the overall graduate cohort, reflecting the importance of engineers, not just in the engineering industry, but across the whole economy.
Despite ongoing efforts to improve the diversity of the engineering profession, the report shows noticeable differences between the outcomes for different ethnic groups. Significantly higher proportion of white engineering graduates find full-time jobs within six months of graduation than amongst their black and minority ethnic (BME) counterparts, and more of them enter engineering occupations. Although employment prospects on the whole are very good, a black or Asian engineering graduate is more than twice as likely to be unemployed as a white engineering graduate of similar age and gender with similar study and attainment characteristics. This difference is larger for engineering graduates than for graduates across all disciplines. The report calls for further investigation into the impact of ethnicity and academic attainment on early employment prospects for engineering graduates.
