HC Deb 01 March 1982 vol 19 cc44-5W
Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Employment how many of those who graduated in 1981 were still unemployed by the end of that year, in number and percentage terms; and what are the comparable figures for each of the previous five years and if he can break the figures down to show the position for engineering and arts, languages and pure science graduates.

Mr. Alison

[pursuant to his reply, 18 February 1982, c. 187]: There is no exact record of the number of graduates who are unemployed at the end of the year in which they take their degree. The official unemployment figures do not record whether an unemployed person is a graduate. The estimates that are available come from surveys of the first destinations of each year's new graduates.

These surveys are conducted by graduate careers advisory services at each university in the United Kingdom and each polytechnic in England and Wales. The results from each institution are collated and published as separate totals for all universities and all polytechnics. This system gives a record of first destinations for some 90 per cent. of university graduates and 80 per cent. of polytechnic graduates. The latest available figures are for 1980; results for 1981 will not be available until later this year.

Unemployment of New First Degree Graduates of United Kingdom Universities
Men and Women
Number unemployed at end of year Unemployed as a percentage of all graduates of known destination
1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
Subject
1. Education 27 30 42 29 77 5.1 4.0 3.9 2.5 6.2
2. Medicine, dentistry, health 30 36 34 47 44 0.7 0.7 0.7 0.9 0.8
3. Engineering and technology 279 259 159 192 421 3.9 3.5 2.0 2.3 4.8
4. Agriculture, forestry, veterinary service 48 55 51 49 101 5.8 5.7 5.2 4.5 8.4
5. Science 958 903 716 722 1,363 7.4 7.1 5.4 5.4 9.8
6. Social, administrative and business studies 920 887 816 870 1,520 6.9 6.2 5.4 5.6 9.4
7. Architecture, other professional and vocational subjects 49 33 30 20 61 5.9 4.1 3.1 2.2 6.4
8. Language, literature and other studies 488 460 427 530 875 7.5 6.7 5.9 7.1 11.3
9. Arts other than languages 369 400 394 426 658 6.9 7.3 6.8 7.2 11.6
Total 3,168 3,063 2,669 2,885 5,120 6.1 5.6 4.7 4.9 8.4
Source: First Destinations of University Graduates, annual volumes, published by Universities Statistical Record.

Table 2
Unemployment of new, full-time and sandwich, First degree graduates of Polytechnics Men and Women
Number unemployed at end of year Unemployed as a percentage of all graduates of known destinations
Subject 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980
1 Education 46 95 82 99 145 10.3 10.2 5.3 4.5 8.5
2 Health 7 7 4 3 8 2.4 2.2 1.0 0.8 2.0
3 Engineering 87 72 64 64 173 4.2 3.4 2.8 2.6 6.6
4 Science 167 152 135 188 286 11.1 9.9 8.4 9.9 13.4
5 Social studies 320 320 308 312 536 10.7 9.3 8.0 7.3 11.9
6 Vocational studies 61 52 36 47 143 10.6 7.1 4.0 4.8 12.6
7 Language studies 35 39 55 49 55 10.0 10.7 12.0 12.7 14.0
8 Arts 34 25 27 99 154 14.6 12.1 15.1 12.3 19.3
9 Music, drama and visual arts 136 185 184 233 319 13.6 14.2 129 14.7 18.7
Total 893 947 895 1,094 1,819 9.4 8.7 7.1 7.3 11.8

Source: First Destinations of Polytechnic Students, annual volumes, published by the Committee of Directors of Polytechnics.

Notes on tables:

  1. (i) It is possible to combine the figures from the universities and polytechnics but this does then conceal differences between them e.g. subject composition.
  2. (ii) The results do not cover all of each year's graduates they exclude graduates of other institutions such as colleges of higher education, part-time students and post-gradutes. In case, information in the form requested is not available.