Seven Years On: graduate careers in a changing labour market

1. Seven Years On: graduate careers in achanging labour market A presentation of research findings 16th June 2004, Westminster, London Kate Purcell, University of the West of England, Peter Elias, University of Warwick

2. Structure of the presentation: • a brief outline of the research project (methods and resources) • what is a graduate occupation? • the occupational mobility of graduates in their early careers • a portrait of graduate employment 7 years on • gendered career outcomes • too many graduates?

3. The Seven Years On research • Longitudinal survey of 50% of 1995 graduates from 38 UK Higher Education Institutions, including full work histories • 3½ years after graduation, in 1998/99 • 7 years after graduation, in 2002/3 • Programme of telephone and face to face interviews with 200 respondents 7 years after graduation • Detailed investigation from a wide range of additional data sources

4. What is a graduate occupation? • Is it a job for which a degree is a prerequisite? • Is it a job for which undergraduate education is a necessary preparation? • Is it a job which uses graduate skills and/or knowledge? • Is it a job with career potential? • Is it a better job (e.g. higher earnings, better status, more job satisfaction) than could be obtained without a degree?

5. Defining graduate occupations - sources of information • Labour Force Survey (0.5 million graduates, 1991-2001 on SOC90, 2002-2003 on SOC2000) • LFS text descriptions of job requirements, 1996/97 • Development work for SOC90 and SOC2000 (full details are given in Research Paper No 5)

6. SOC(HE) : a new typology of occupations • Traditional graduate occupations • Modern graduate occupations • New graduate occupations • Niche graduate occupations • Non-graduate occupations

7. Occupational structure of the UK labour force, 2001 - 2003 Source: Labour Force Survey Data

8. Degree required for job held in 2002/03, by gender and type of occupation Source: Graduate Careers 7 Years On Survey

9. Source: New Earnings Survey Panel Dataset 1975-2000

10. The movement of 1995 graduates into the labour market, 1995 - 2003 Source: Graduate Careers 7 Years On Survey

11. Occupational mobility of 1995 graduates Source: Graduate Careers 7 Years On Survey

12. A portrait of graduate employment 7 years on • Where do they work? • What do they do? • How does this relate to their undergraduate education? • Graduate skills and graduate jobs; focus on New and Niche graduate jobs

13. What sectors do they work in? Source: Graduate Careers 7 Years On Survey

14. What jobs do they do? Source: Graduate Careers 7 Years On Survey

15. A comparison of skills developed 'a lot' on 1995 course with those required for job held in 2002/03 Source: Graduate Careers 7 Years On Survey

16. Those in New and Niche graduate occupations are… …More likely • to work in the private sector and in a large organisation • to be using entrepreneurial skills, management skills and leadership skills • to supervise the work of others …Less likely • to have done a postgraduate degree New graduate jobs were mostly done in male-dominated contexts/ niche graduate jobs in female-dominated contexts, and those employed full time in New graduate jobs were more likely than those in other categories to earn £40K+) BUT what do these graduates DO? And does it differ from the work that those in traditional and modern graduate jobs do?

17. We identified three ‘clusters’ of intrinsic skills in graduate occupations... • Expertise • Strategic skills • Interactive skills

18. Expertise Specific, specialist technical knowledge and skills that are essential/central to the undertaking of a job. This expertise is most often acquired on specialist degree courses, sometimes followed by postgraduate study or professional training and accreditation. Jobs positioned at the expert extreme typically have a considerable emphasis on technical analysis, problem diagnosis and solution.

19. Strategic/managerial skills The skills required to plan, co-ordinate and administer processes and (usually) people. For example, most senior management jobs require elements of substantive expertise and interactive skills but at core, their successful performance relies on vision, capacity to evaluate information, assess risks and opportunities and take effective strategic decisions.

20. Interactive skills The ability to manage one's own or other people's emotions in carrying out the work objectives. Examples of jobs that require ‘hard’ interactive skills include negotiation, selling and persuasion. ‘Soft’ interactive skills are associated with caring, counselling and welfare provision. Liaison skills require both elements.

22. Interview Sample (189 cases in employment) - mean skills scores by SOC(HE) Source: Graduate Careers 7 Years On Survey

23. So what do graduates do? • Most involved a varied range of tasks and locations • Written communication central to most jobs • Use of ICT is a major element of their work • Teamwork, project management and supervision are central elements of many graduate jobs • Internal and external liaison feature predominantly in their daily work • Problem solving, research and evaluation were at the core of many graduate jobs

24. Gendered career outcomes • Is there ‘equality of opportunity’ in the graduate labour market • What factors underlie the different outcomes we perceive for men and women • What do graduates tell us about the gendered nature of their jobs?

25. The evolution of the gender gap in pay: full-time employees

26. Understanding the gender gap in pay?

27. Why a gender pay gap? Work-related • Cumulative disadvantage • Discrimination

28. Subject of 1995 degree: gendered career paths? Source: Graduate Careers 7 Years On Survey

29. Why a gender pay gap? Work-related • Cumulative disadvantage • Discrimination Life-related • Differences in aspirations and values • Partnership and family formation

30. Social class and higher education expansion • As higher education expands, will this include more from under-represented social backgrounds? • Does participation in higher education redress social inequalities?

31. Social class and employment outcomes 7 years on Those from professional/managerial backgrounds were more likely to: • Have attended a fee-paying school • To have gained better A-level results • To have attended a pre-1992 university But, a professional/managerial background: • Only confers a small advantage in terms of class of degree • Does yield an earnings advantage 7 years after graduation

32. Social class of parents and average annual earnings 7 years after graduation

33. Too many graduates? • It has been argued that expansion of the higher education system will lead to: • a reduction in the average value of the graduate earnings premium; • graduate ‘underemployment’; • slower rate of movement of graduates out of non graduate employment; • disappointment among graduates about their career opportunities.

34. The graduate earnings premium • Review of studies based upon earlier data sources • Comparative study of rate of growth of graduate earnings during first 6 – 7 years after graduation (1980 cohort v. 1995 cohort) • Comparative study of graduate earnings 3 – 4 years after graduation (1995 cohort v. 1999 cohort)

35. Source: Graduate Careers 7 Years On Survey & British Cohort Study (1970 births surveyed in 1999)

36. How do 1995 graduates rate their employment outcomes? • Over 70% said they were in full-time jobs related to long term career plans • Three quarters rated their current job satisfaction at 5+ on a scale of 1 – 7 • On a similar scale 70% indicated that they were in an appropriate job for someone with their qualifications • 85% stated that they were ‘reasonably’ or ‘completely’ satisfied with the way their career had developed so far

37. The research team: University of the West of England Professor Kate Purcell (Kate.Purcell@uwe.ac.uk) Nick Wilton University of Warwick Professor Peter Elias (Peter.Elias@warwick.ac.uk) Ritva Ellison University of the West of England University of Warwick