The employment trajectories of Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) graduates in the UK

Author(s):

Emma Smith(presenting / submitting)Patrick White

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

22. Research in Higher Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

22 SES 11 D, Student Transitions and Graduate Employability

Paper Session

Time:

2014-09-04

17:15-18:45

Room:

B019 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Jani Petri Ursin

Contribution

There is considerable political and industry pressure to increase the number of scientists in the UK and other nations. ‘Crisis’ accounts of falling levels of engagement in STEM subjects at local and international levels have been well documented and have persisted over time. In the UK according to the Confederation of British Industry’s recent Skills and Education Survey, there is a widespread shortage of STEM skills, with 43% of employers reporting difficulty in recruiting appropriately skilled applicants and more than half expecting to experience recruitment problems within the next three years (CBI 2012). Similar surveys by the Sector Skills Council and other organisations also point to skills shortages among graduates across STEM areas (DIU 2009). This focus on the need to increase the supply of young people into the field is apparent in the number of initiatives and policies that seek to raise participation in STEM areas. The motivations behind such initiatives are largely economic and represent industry’s concerns for a suitably skilled workforce (e.g. CBI 2012), particularly in the face of competition from other established and emerging economies, such as India and China (Leitch Review of Skills 2006).

However, others argue that the supply of STEM skills is more than enough to meet demand and that the picture is much healthier than is often suggested. Indeed, rather than there being a shortage of STEM professionals, it has been argued that many highly qualified STEM graduates struggle to find appropriate employment and either work in non-STEM fields, are ‘underemployed’ in STEM occupations, or are unemployed. Indeed, as far back as the 1960s, widespread political concerns about a ‘swing from science’ and a ‘brain drain’ of highly qualified professionals were being questioned by economists who saw the issue as a ‘mass of contradictions’ compounded by a lack of understanding about what labour market demandactually meant (Gannicott and Blaug 1969:57). More recent work undertaken on behalf of the UK Commission of Employment and Skills (2011:4) has also concluded that skills shortage vacancies in STEM sectors are generally low and that that the supply of STEM skills is ‘more than sufficient to meet demand’. Such contradictions are not limited to the UK. Writing from a US perspective, Teitelbaum (2003:47) argues that STEM shortage claims are ‘inconsistent with all available quantitative evidence ... [and] many of the solutions proposed to deal with the putative "crisis" are profoundly misdirected’.

This paper aims to contribute to the ‘STEM skills deficit’ debate by providing much needed evidence (House of Lords 2012) on the nature of STEM career trajectories and their relationship to higher education and the wider labour market. It will address the following main research questions:

1. What are the patterns in the early and subsequent career trajectories for STEM graduates?

2. How do STEM patterns of employment compare with employment patterns in non-STEM fields?

3. Does studying particular subjects or having graduated from particular institutions affect STEM career success?

Method

Our findings will draw upon data from the UK’s largest birth cohort studies (the 1958 National Child Development Study and the 1970 Birth Cohort Study) to provide detailed empirical evidence on the education and career paths of both STEM graduates and other highly skilled STEM workers from the early 1980s to the present day. We will also consider the early career destination of graduates when they leave university through an analysis of the UK Higher Education Statistics Agency first destination survey from 1994 (the earliest date for which this data is available). The National Child Development Study is an on-going longitudinal study that follows the lives of a cohort of individuals who were born in March 1958. To date there have been eight ‘sweeps’ of the NCDS, with the latest sweep taking place in 2008/9 when participants were 50 years old. Data from the NCDS was used to investigate the career trajectories of STEM graduates who left university during the late 1970s/early 1980s. Data was analysed at five points (from 1981 to 2008/09) and captures the first employment destinations of the NCDS graduates as well as career patterns in the intervening decades. The 1970 British Cohort Study follows those individuals who were born in one week in April 1970 and who are now in their early 40s. Data from the BCS were used to compare the trajectories of this younger group of STEM graduates with those surveyed in the NCDS. The BCS cohort was educated during a period of expansion in Higher Education in the UK and the launch of national initiatives to encourage participation in STEM study and careers Both cohort studies have enabled us to examine patterns in the qualifications, length of education, income and labour market history of STEM graduates. We have also used data from the UK Higher Education Statistical Agency’s annual graduate first destination survey. This gathers data from students approximately six months after they have left university. Information is provided on the type of work in which they are employed and whether they have embarked upon further study. It provides the most complete record available of early graduate career and educational destinations.

Expected Outcomes

Initial findings suggest that there needs to be a clearer articulation of what is meant by both shortage and demand in STEM sector employment. For example, relatively large proportions of STEM graduates are unemployed six months after graduation or in relatively low-skilled jobs. Similar levels of unemployment among non-STEM graduates suggest that a STEM degree, in itself, does not necessarily provide an employment advantage (at least in terms of the early career destinations for which we have data). At present there is insufficient evidence to safely conclude that such a shortage exists and if indeed it does not, these initiatives risk being counterproductive, merely increasing the number of unemployed or underemployed graduates.

References

CBI (2011), Building for growth: business priorities for education and skills, Education and skills survey 2011, accessed from www.cbi.org.uk/media/1051530/cbi__edi_education___skills_survey_2011.pdf DIU (2009) The Demand for Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Skills. Available at: www.bis.gov.uk/assets/biscore/corporate/migratedd/publications/d/ demand_for_stem_kills.pdf (accessed March 2010). House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology (2012), Higher Education in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects Report, House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology, London: The Stationery Office Limited. Leitch Review of Skills (2006) Prosperity for All in the Global Economy – World Class Skills: Final Report (London, HMSO). Teitelbaum, M.S. (2003) Do we need more scientists? The Public Interest, Fall, 40–53. UKCES (2011), The supply of and demand for high- level STEM skills, UK Commission for Employment and Skills: Briefing paper, December 2011, accessed from www.ukces.org.uk/assets/ukces/docs/publications/briefing-paper-the-supply-of-and-demand-for-high-level-stem-skills.pdf

Author Information

Emma Smith (presenting / submitting)

University of Leicester

School of Education

Leicester

Patrick White

University of Leicester

Sociology