As part of the What do graduates do? series, Charlie Ball examines the Scottish labour market, providing a region-by-region analysis of graduate employment trends
Key findings of the Scotland labour market overview
- Scotland has a higher proportion of people than the UK average educated to NVQ4+ (degree or equivalent) - the majority of the workforce has this level of qualification - and around the same proportion of professional-level jobs as the UK as a whole. This means that there are slightly more people educated to NVQ4+ level than there are roles at professional level.
- Outcomes for graduates from Scottish institutions were slightly more positive than the UK as a whole. Unemployment was at the lowest since Graduate Outcomes data was inaugurated, at 4.2%, and full-time work stood just a hair below 60%.
- The data shows how high-tech manufacturing is vital to the Scottish economy - and its need for scarce, highly skilled workers in the sector.
- Small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) are a little less important to graduate employment in Scotland than in some other parts of the UK, with 22% of graduates starting their career at an SME.
- The vast majority of graduates working in Scotland (82%) are 'loyals' - they are from Scotland and studied in Scotland.
- Meanwhile 7% are incomers (from outside Scotland and didn't study there), 6% are returners (from Scotland but went elsewhere to study) and less than 5% are stayers (from elsewhere but moved to Scotland for study and stayed for work.
The summary of Scotland's graduate labour market is followed by a detailed tour of the country's nine cities and regions, delving into their unique characteristics:
"Scottish geography and culture means that some of the factors affecting local labour markets differ from the rest of the UK. Unlike the other three nations of the UK, Scotland does not have one dominant urban labour market - Glasgow is the largest but Edinburgh is very substantial, and Aberdeen and Dundee are both regionally important. At the same time, Scotland is characterised by many remote and rural areas, and the Orkneys, Shetland and the Western Isles - na h-Eileanan Siar - are island communities of a size and nature that does not exist anywhere else in the UK. This means that a UK wide perspective on the graduate labour market misses a great deal that makes Scotland unique. This report attempts to address that."
What's inside What do graduates do? Scotland 2023/24
The full report includes an overview of Scotland's graduate labour market plus outcomes data for graduates from Scottish higher education institutions. This is followed by an in-depth region-by-region analysis covering:
- Aberdeen City and Shire
- Ayrshire and Clyde Valley
- Edinburgh
- Fife and the Lothians
- Forth Valley
- Glasgow
- Highlands and Islands
- South of Scotland
- Tayside
About What do graduates do? Scotland 2023/24
What do graduates do? Scotland 2023/24 was published in April 2024 on Prospects Luminate. The author is Charlie Ball, Jisc's head of labour market intelligence.
Data sources include HESA's Graduate Outcomes survey, which collected responses from those who graduated in 2020/21, 15 months after graduation.
Prospects and HESA are part of Jisc.
You can also read the regular annual edition of What do graduates do?, which looks at outcomes for UK on a subject-by-subject basis, and What do graduates do? Wales. A report on the graduate labour market in Northern Ireland follow.
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