A new analysis of education and workforce data has revealed just how many upcoming graduates are expected to not find a job in their field of study.
The study of government and commercial data – by technology startup WithYouWithMe – declared a “state of emergency” for the labour market, blaming a skills gap for emerging industries and a “graduate glut” caused by a lack of regulation in university enrolments and clear communication about employment outcomes post-graduation.
Luke Rix, Co-Founder and Head of Growth & Insights, WithYouWithMe, says this points to how defunct and out of touch the education system is with the economy — we're letting the future workforce down massively.
“Education is more than just a direct path to employment but, when up to 80% of students will not find a job in their field after graduation, you have to wonder what exactly degrees are equipping them for,” Rix said.
“It’s clear that the Education industry is not keeping up with the rate of change and the demands of the labour market caused by new technology. It begs the question — Is anyone taking responsibility to ensure students are aware of their future job prospects?”
Fields with a ‘glut’ of future graduates
In some other fields of study, the projected number of graduates expected to not find a job reaches staggering percentages:
- 73.95% of students studying society and culture, including Law and Political & International Studies will not find a job in their field
- 86.86% of Fine Arts students and more than 70% of Natural and Physical Science students will not find a job in their field
- 13.68% Health graduates will not find a job in their field
The study also revealed that new technology applications are displacing and replacing jobs in the labour market at increasing rates, while also creating new roles in emerging industries
It says the Education system is not adapting at the speed of the labour market, resulting in a skills gap, and a lack of regulation is allowing universities to enrol numbers of students that far exceed available jobs in related fields.
Education ‘oversupply’
One of the major challenges, says the study, is that Australia's Education system has not been designed to respond to new changes in the labour market. It points to a lack of regulatory control in the Education system, which means students are enrolling in fields where job prospects are expected to be low.
What’s more, there is no clear overarching mechanism between education and employment outcomes and no real incentive for universities to do so.
Rix said that with over a million underemployed young people looking for full time employment opportunities, it appears there is a lack of relevant skills in job seekers rather than a lack of labour.
“One of the promoted features of the tertiary Education system is to provide students with a clear developed pathway from secondary education to the labour market, but it is failing to do so,” he said.
“This is not an argument against traditional tertiary education, but we need to be real about what skills will be in demand as our workforce evolves or we’ll be left with thousands of educated Aussies pulling beers in pubs.”