http://www.thelearningpress.com/half-of-all-science-grads-struggling-for-jobs.html

Norton says science a “risky” choice following latest employment figures

The push to encourage more students to enrol in science and technology degrees is dangerous and risks leaving many graduates unemployed, the respected Grattan Institute has warned.

A new report by the think tank, to be released on Monday, finds that science enrolments have surged over recent years yet science graduates are struggling to find jobs. They are also less likely than other graduates to put into practice what they learnt at university.

Despite this, business groups, the science lobby and politicians continue to argue Australia needs more graduates with Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths (STEM) degrees.

Grattan Institute higher education program director Andrew Norton said beginning a science degree was a “risky” decision that students should not make lightly.

It would be a “good development” if fewer people chose to study science, he said.
​
“If people think doing a Bachelor in Science will give them skills that are highly valued in the labour market then they should probably look at studying something else,” he said.

Science has added 26,800 local students since 2009, outstripping growth in other STEM fields.

Yet only 51 per cent of science graduates looking for full-time work in 2015 had found it four months after completing their course, 17 percentage points lower than the national average.

Graduates from biology and other life science courses do particularly badly although mathematics and chemistry graduates still have lower-than-average graduate employment rates.

The full-time employment rate for recent geology graduates has plummeted to its lowest level in 30 years following the end of the mining boom.

“We’ve never seen a cohort that has done this badly – we are in uncharted territory,” Mr Norton said “I’m very nervous for the career prospects for recent science graduates.”

Employment outcomes improve over time, with 82 per cent of science graduates in full-time work three years after finishing their degree. But these jobs are not necessarily matched to their expertise.
​
Only 53 per cent of life science graduates say their qualification is a “formal requirement” or important for their job.

Many science students want to study medicine and would be better going directly into a health-related degree, Mr Norton said.

The release of the report comes on the same day Greg Hunt will give his first major speech since taking over the science and innovation portfolio.

Mr Hunt will tell the Australian Academy of Science that it is important for the nation to have a “strong pipeline” of graduates with STEM skills that can be applied across many fields.

“There are those who believe there are too many people studying science and too many science graduates working in jobs outside the science field,” he will say.

“Nothing could be further from the truth.

“Such thinking sees working out of field as a problem when it actually reflects the benefits of a scientific education in many areas of the economy.”

The Grattan Institute also found that the proportion of recent information technology graduates in full-time work is at its lowest level since 1982 despite strong demand for workers in the IT sector.

“It seems the content in IT degrees is not what the industry needs,” Mr Norton said.
​
People interested in working in IT may be better off getting a more practical vocational qualification, Mr Norton said.

Perhaps science degrees need to concentrate more on research and development of something that can sold to the world market

Just like an Arts degree eh.

Haven’t there always been fairly poor job prospects with science degrees. I suspect this isn’t some new phenomenon.

The last ‘future employment’ seminar I went to they talked about how specific skills are no longer the better way to go for future employment prospects. They encourage children to gain what they termed ‘soft skills’ so they can apply them to a whole range of jobs. Some stats they spouted were a person entering the workforce now may work for up to 40 different companies and have up to 20 ‘jobs’ with different skill sets.

sibeen said:

Haven’t there always been fairly poor job prospects with science degrees. I suspect this isn’t some new phenomenon.

True enough, though you can do okay with the right specialisation.

sibeen said:

Haven’t there always been fairly poor job prospects with science degrees. I suspect this isn’t some new phenomenon.

I presume we’re talking Australia here, but doesn’t a science degree enable decent global career mobility?

dv said:

sibeen said:

Haven’t there always been fairly poor job prospects with science degrees. I suspect this isn’t some new phenomenon.

True enough, though you can do okay with the right specialisation.

I imagine that is the same with any field. Certainly is in mine. I work in a reasonably narrow field. Sometimes this pays off, at other times it leaves me scratching for work.

Whether or not this is new info, it is interesting to counterpose the regular announcement of the need to attract more people to the sciences, and the importance of science to the national weal, with the lack of jobs for scientists.

dv said:

Whether or not this is new info, it is interesting to counterpose the regular announcement of the need to attract more people to the sciences, and the importance of science to the national weal, with the lack of jobs for scientists.

I don’t actually mind people doing a science degree and working in a completely different field. Education can never really hurt, and god knows, we need more weal.

You don’t often read “the respected Gratton institute”, it’s usually far right killbots.

sibeen said:

dv said:

Whether or not this is new info, it is interesting to counterpose the regular announcement of the need to attract more people to the sciences, and the importance of science to the national weal, with the lack of jobs for scientists.

I don’t actually mind people doing a science degree and working in a completely different field. Education can never really hurt

I dunno about that. Four years down the drain can hurt.

dv said:

sibeen said:

dv said:

Whether or not this is new info, it is interesting to counterpose the regular announcement of the need to attract more people to the sciences, and the importance of science to the national weal, with the lack of jobs for scientists.

I don’t actually mind people doing a science degree and working in a completely different field. Education can never really hurt

I dunno about that. Four years down the drain can hurt.

Everyone needs extra debt these days too.

I picked up work before I’d finished my degree and with only 6 months of part time experience landed a full time position and have had few problems getting work since then. I was lucky. A number of people I was at uni with have never got a job that uses their degrees.

I now see quality graduates taking Green Army positions as there’s nothing else for them.

If my kids ask me for career advice, I’ll tell them to do a trade. They don’t need crippling debt and no job prospects.

sibeen said:

dv said:

sibeen said:

Haven’t there always been fairly poor job prospects with science degrees. I suspect this isn’t some new phenomenon.

True enough, though you can do okay with the right specialisation.

I imagine that is the same with any field. Certainly is in mine. I work in a reasonably narrow field. Sometimes this pays off, at other times it leaves me scratching for work.

who or what do you have to scratch?

Teleost said:

I picked up work before I’d finished my degree and with only 6 months of part time experience landed a full time position and have had few problems getting work since then. I was lucky. A number of people I was at uni with have never got a job that uses their degrees.

I now see quality graduates taking Green Army positions as there’s nothing else for them.

If my kids ask me for career advice, I’ll tell them to do a trade. They don’t need crippling debt and no job prospects.

Eveyone wanted me to go to Uni, Dad said, “there will be 4,000 graduates and 4 jobs. The rest will have to learn to dig trenches. You’d be better to learn to dig trenches first.”

Teleost said:

I picked up work before I’d finished my degree and with only 6 months of part time experience landed a full time position and have had few problems getting work since then. I was lucky. A number of people I was at uni with have never got a job that uses their degrees.

I now see quality graduates taking Green Army positions as there’s nothing else for them.

If my kids ask me for career advice, I’ll tell them to do a trade. They don’t need crippling debt and no job prospects.

I worked my way through uni, then when I graduated, I had other skills to keep employed.
Only now am I starting a trade as a means of employment

i got a trade but wish i had gone to uni.

diddly-squat said:

who or what do you have to scratch?

Shouldn’t that be ‘whom’?

ChrispenEvan said:

i got a trade but wish i had gone to uni.

what would you have done?

ChrispenEvan said:

i got a trade but wish i had gone to uni.

In a way same here. I could have definitely used a uni degree. However, I’m back working at the trade at a time in life when work would be difficult to get.

Teleost said:

I picked up work before I’d finished my degree and with only 6 months of part time experience landed a full time position and have had few problems getting work since then. I was lucky. A number of people I was at uni with have never got a job that uses their degrees.

I now see quality graduates taking Green Army positions as there’s nothing else for them.

If my kids ask me for career advice, I’ll tell them to do a trade. They don’t need crippling debt and no job prospects.

in fairness HELP (the new HECS) debt for an normal pass degree is hardly crippling, nor is the rate at which you have to pay it back

stumpy_seahorse said:

ChrispenEvan said:

i got a trade but wish i had gone to uni.

what would you have done?

i wanted to be an architect in those days, now i would have chosen a science degree.

sibeen said:

diddly-squat said:

who or what do you have to scratch?

Shouldn’t that be ‘whom’?

seems you’re scratching somwhere pretty swanky with those sorts of corrections…

>>I’ll tell them to do a trade. They don’t need crippling debt and no job prospects.

Absolutely, HEX sucks.

ChrispenEvan said:

stumpy_seahorse said:

ChrispenEvan said:

i got a trade but wish i had gone to uni.

what would you have done?

i wanted to be an architect in those days, now i would have chosen a science degree.

I lived with a few archi students on campus, interesting stuff and fun making models.
I did 2 science degrees (fell a few units short on the first one, but I was over it by then)

diddly-squat said:

Teleost said:

I picked up work before I’d finished my degree and with only 6 months of part time experience landed a full time position and have had few problems getting work since then. I was lucky. A number of people I was at uni with have never got a job that uses their degrees.

I now see quality graduates taking Green Army positions as there’s nothing else for them.

If my kids ask me for career advice, I’ll tell them to do a trade. They don’t need crippling debt and no job prospects.

in fairness HELP (the new HECS) debt for an normal pass degree is hardly crippling, nor is the rate at which you have to pay it back

It is in effect an additional tax on those who have received a university education, and who earn enough to afford it.

Those on low income don’t have to pay it.

Seems reasonable to me.