Why graduates are unemployed

[tomorton]

Mention on the Brexit thread re subsidising engineering degrees in the UK sounded like a good way to drive up our skills base and enlarge GDP. I did a bit of Googling and came across some nice research into what happens to UK engineering graduates - 13% found to be unemployed, not just working in other fields, unemployed in all fields. The research focused on the unemployed graduates (apparently, amongst academic circles, this was an innovative approach!).

Main factors in (engineering) graduate unemployment include -
* no work experience of any kind
* no extra-curricular activities
* graduates preference for employment close to home
* other sectors (e.g. finance) offering better pay
* inability to apply technical skills and knowledge in a business or workplace context
* graduates applying to insufficient employers and too late in degree course
* weak job applications, e.g. incorrect spellings, inadequate research into the company etc.
* poor preparation for interviews.

All these seem easy to resolve.

Factors found not to be significant -
* degree type (MEng / BEng
* lack of vacancies

Interesting research, might apply pretty well to other degree courses too: bearing in mind engineering is a highly applied science-based degree with strong expectations for employment in the relevant field post-graduation.

T2W regularly sees graduates researching trading as an alternative to their degree subject as a field. Any comments from this group?

Any engineering employers on the site? Any university staff?

See:
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.11120/ened.2012.07020007

 

[Trader333]

The exact opposite is the case in Germany where Engineering is highly valued as compared to the UK. We also have to consider that the UK manufacturing sector is very poor when compared to that of Germany and as you say it is far more lucrative to go into banking and finance. When I was in engineering / manufacturing the only way that a career could progress for high quality engineers was to move into management. Most of the time that then meant they were no longer involved in real engineering and most of the time were not competent to be good managers.

Again this doesn't happen elsewhere where good engineers can have an equally good career path but stay in engineering. Here we tend to promote people to the level where they are incompetent and as such end up with poor management and skills transferred out of engineering where they would be better served.

 

[Atilla]

Agree with both however, engineering is transferable skill if I can put it like that. It often entails a branch or combination of science subjects; physics, chemistry and mathematics. So engineers end up finding employment in other areas.

We do need a manufacturing base and there are new opportunities on the horizon. Programming is also will be a subject much in demand.

One key reasons why the UK lost the Empire was that Germany had 4x as many engineers and Japan had 8x.

Second key failing is to convert high tech military technology to daily use mass produced consumable items.

Third, to take a long term view on investing and finance and not be short sighted about returns. US is very good in the latter of these three points. Our ideas and engineers usually end up there.

 

[dbphoenix]

Manufacturing, however, is not the future. Computerization and automation will make manufacturing jobs obsolete, aside from the problem that young people have no desire to go into manufacturing.

 

[Atilla]

Programs need to run on devices what ever they may be, will require manufacture and production.

Manufacturing will always be with us unless mankind plans on becoming static.

There is likely to be a time lag but still believe it is a destination and direction UK should embark upon.

 

[dbphoenix]

Programs need to run on devices what ever they may be, will require manufacture and production.

Nearly all of which can be automated.

 

[forker]

The UK should specialise in automation and renewable energy technology for households

 

[dbphoenix]

Germany appears to be ahead of the curve on that.

 

[darktone]

Nearly all of which can be automated.

Well, a machine cant design, build or maintain itself....yet.... and you usually need at least one fleshbag to press the go button.
Nothing wrong with manufacturing imo, especially if relations suffer in some way with the manufacturing countries. What would we do without our iphones?

A good war should get things back on track, thats usually how it goes dunnit.:|

 

[hhiusa]

Graduates are unemployed because they are choosing majors just for the sake of getting a degree, which tend to be the unemployable degrees. Arts, humanities (gender studies, history, political science, philosophy, literature, english, film studies, theology,...)

Employable majors under the condition that you are any good at them.
Medicine (no socialized medicine yet so we make more), law, physics (Q-phys, Astrophys, biophsy), chemistry (bio chem, Q-chem), mathematics (so-so), engineering (civil or aero)

So-So
Economics, business, Foreign language (useful if you are wealthy and have parents to blow tens of thousands dollars otherwise use Rosetta Stone [a few hundred dollars].

http://www.forbes.com/pictures/fgek45hg/no-1-anthropology-and-archeology/#c8a62502914f

College majors with the highest unemployment

1. Clinical psychology 19.5%
2. Miscellaneous fine arts 16.2%
3. United States history 15.1%
4. Library science 15.0%
5. (tie) Military technologies; educational psychology 10.9%
6. Architecture 10.6%
7. Industrial & organizational psychology 10.4%
8. Miscellaneous psychology 10.3%
9. Linguistics & comparative literature 10.2%
10. (tie) Visual & performing arts; engineering & industrial management 9.2%
11. Engineering & industrial management 9.2%
12. Social psychology 8.8%
13. International business 8.5%
14. Humanities 8.4%
15. General social sciences 8.2%
16. Commercial art & graphic design 8.1%
17. Studio art 8.0%
18. Pre-law & legal studies 7.9%
19. Materials engineering and materials science and composition & speech (tie) 7.7%
20. Liberal arts 7.6%

 

[hhiusa]

I would say that it is obvious why these majors are unemployable.