If you study any of these uni degrees in 2024 then you’re most likely to be unemployed

And they’re not actually humanities subjects!


Some people when they’re picking which subject to put down on that pesky UCAS form (which is all different now by the way??) just pick something that they love and want to study for three years. But others, the more boring or sensible ones, depending on how you look at it, pick what is gonna get them a job after graduating. But do we actually know which subjects these are?

Well, results from HESA’s graduate outcome survey show just how likely each degree subject is to get you a job. The Graduate Outcomes survey is the biggest annual social survey in the UK, which aims to create an understanding of the “graduate perspective and what success looks like following your time in higher education”.

870,295 students were surveyed 15 months after graduating uni as to what they’re up to now and basically, whether they have jobs or not.

Overall, 89 per cent of all grads were in some form of work or further study with 61 per cent in full-time employment, six per cent in full-time further study and 5 per cent unemployed overall. But this result varies massively when you look at all the different degrees.

The degrees that are most employable overall are, no surprise, medicine and dentistry with only a 1.54 per cent unemployment rate for grads. This is closely followed by veterinary science, where 2.02 per cent of grads are unemployed and not in further study 15 months after graduating.

However, there are other subjects that are most likely to leave you unemployed and they’re actually STEM subjects, not humanities! Computing is the subject with the highest unemployment rate for grads at 8.18 per cent. Maths follows computing with 6.75 per cent of all grads being unemployed 15 months after leaving uni.

So, these are the uni degrees which you’re most likely to end up unemployed with:

21. Medicine and dentistry – 1.54 per cent unemployed

20. Veterinary science – 2.02 per cent unemployed

19. Subjects allied to medicine – 2.79 per cent unemployed

18. Education and teaching – 2.93 per cent unemployed

17. Combined and general studies – 3.32 per cent unemployed

16. Architecture, building and planning – 4.34 per cent unemployed

15. Agriculture, food and related studies – 4.66 per cent unemployed

14. Social sciences – 4.96 per cent unemployed

13. Psychology – 5.04 per cent unemployed

12. Natural sciences – 5.29 per cent unemployed

11. History and Philosophy – 5.35 per cent unemployed

10. Biological and sports sciences – 5.66 per cent unemployed

9. Engineering and technology – 5.67 per cent unemployed

8. Law – 5.79 per cent unemployed

7. Physical sciences – 5.89 per cent unemployed

6. Languages – 6.16 per cent unemployed

5. Business management – 6.34 per cent unemployed

4. Design and creative performing arts – 6.59 per cent unemployed

3. Media, journalism and communications – 6.63 per cent unemployed

2. Maths – 6.75 per cent unemployed

1. Computing – 8.18 per cent unemployed

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