Skip to Main Content

The Destinations of Post Graduate Leavers of Higher Education 2017: Employment

Level of jobs of Sussex PG leavers

An important indicator of performance with regard to graduate employment is the graduate level job indicator. Universities use the HESA SOC2010 coding system to identify those in graduate level jobs. This has replaced the Elias & Purcell (2004) method for defining graduate level occupations and is intended to provide a stronger coding system. Further details of this are shown in the Appendices tab. This indicator is used in calculations that go towards producing league tables and is therefore a useful area for analysis. The table below shows the proportion of Sussex postgraduate leavers whose job is classified as graduate level.

2015 2016 2017
93% 93% 90%

Table 2  proportion of Sussex postgraduate degree leavers in graduate level jobs

A full department level breakdown of destinations is available in the Executive Summary tab and a breakdown by department of the level of work is available below in the Graduate Level Work link.

Link to graduate level (SOC) numbers

Type of graduate level work

 

Level of occupation class of 2017

 

 

Graduate level jobs total composed of:

90%

732

Managers, directors and senior officials

3%

24

Professional occupations

64%

522

Associate professional and technical occupations

23%

186

Non-graduate level jobs composed of:

10%

81

Administrative and secretarial occupations

3%

27

Skilled trades occupations

1%

8

Caring, leisure and other service occupations

2%

17

Sales and customer service occupations

2%

18

Process, plant and machine operatives

0%

0

Elementary occupations

1%

11

 

The level of jobs are determined by the SOC2010 classification system which is in use

across all sectors and is the generally accepted standardised class system for occupations. 

Employment Sectors

These are the main industrial sectors that are employing Sussex postgraduate leavers

Taught Postgraduates

Research Postgraduates

Graduate Level Work by Department

Salaries of 2017 Sussex PG Leavers

Average salary of 2017 Sussex PG leavers in full-time work:  £24524

The Highfliers UK Graduates Careers Survey 2015** had an median salary reaching, for the first time, £30,000 from graduate employers nationally.

The average public sector worker was paid £20,000 a year down 9% on 2014, compared with private sector workers who were paid £30,000. (Source: High Fliers)

And the most generous salaries on offer in Investment Banking, Law and Banking & Finance.

However, it is important to note that AGR salary figures and the Highfliers figures are sampled from large blue-chip organisations likely to offer higher salaries.

 
**GM Report 2015