Science : Destinations

In addition to the large increase in numbers, sports science graduates also enjoy the highest employment rate amongst scientists, at 64.7%, and the lowest unemployment, at just 6% (see Table 1), this is significantly less than the average unemployment for 09/10 graduates as a whole which currently stands at 8.5%.

Six months after graduation, science graduates, especially those from physics and chemistry, were more likely to have entered further study/training than those from other disciplines. 36.6% of physics graduates and 35.6% of chemistry graduates went on to further study (as a sole activity) compared with 13.5% of all first-degree graduates. The numbers of science graduates entering further study is a reflection on the fact that a postgraduate qualification is often very useful and, in many cases, even a prerequisite in order to pursue a research and development career within science.

Source: DLHE 2009/10

Surprisingly, unemployment for biology and chemistry rose this year from 10.0% and 8.7% respectively whilst unemployment for the rest of the science cohort fell along with the average unemployment for all graduates. This represents the mixed picture that is being seen throughout the UK with only slow economic growth reported for the previous year (according to figures from the Quarterly National Accounts, ONS in July 2011) and an actual drop in production output (according to figures from the Index of Production, ONS in August 2011). These two indicators have a direct impact on the confidence of manufacturing and development companies to recruit scientists.