A recent report, based upon research undertaken at Birmingham University, suggests that nearly a quarter of UK engineering graduates are working in non-graduate jobs or unskilled work such as waiting and shop work.
The study states it is "not easy or automatic" for qualified engineers to find related employment in the UK. However, this contradicts the concerns which employers and industry leaders have repeatedly raised about a lack of good quality science and engineering graduates.
Contrary to this, though, the report, entitled 'Is there a shortage of scientists?' has found that less than half (approximately 46%) of 2009 engineering graduates were in jobs directly related to their degree subject, six months after leaving university. It analysed figures from 1986 to 2009 from the Higher Education Statistical Agency on the proportions of engineering students entering related jobs, other professions or work that did not require a degree in 2009.
Of the remaining graduates, about one in five (20%) were employed in roles that were not directly related to their degree and about one in four (24%) were in "non-graduate" employment, for example working as waiters or in shops. The report says: "Perhaps, because of recent initiatives, there seem to be too many people studying science for the labour market to cope with, or perhaps graduates are no longer of sufficient quality.
"It is more likely, however, that all of these scientists are without relevant employment every year because the shortage thesis is wrong and there are no jobs waiting for all of them or because they are 'dropping out' having learnt that they do not enjoy their subject areas." Evidently the situation facing engineering graduates is a complicated one. But as the CBI, which represents British businesses, has said employers continue to complain of a shortage of suitably qualified and employable candidates, it appears the opportunities are there both relating to, and outside, the engineering degree structure. And in any case, statistics aren't that important: people are more than numbers.
