The most employable degrees
One of the most important reasons for many students when they choose what degree to study is how employable their degree will make them upon graduation. So when you choose your course and subject to study, how can you make sure that you give yourself the best job opportunities?
Often your employability as a graduate will depend on trends in the job market and industry demand, and these can change over time and by location. You can also look at how employable previous students have been to gauge which course will have the best job opportunities.
The top 10 most employable degree areas
We have reviewed data from the Higher Education Statistics Agency of the UK and the Graduate Outcomes Survey by the Australian government’s QILT, showing the percentage of graduated students who were able to find full-time employment shortly after graduating.
Whilst these samples only reflect data from two countries, we can see that students who study degrees in the following areas can expect a good chance of finding full-time employment shortly after graduation by taking an average of the full-time employment rates from this data:
- Veterinary sciences (85.6%)
- Medicine (82.3%)
- Teaching (79.8%)
- Subjects allied to medicine (79.3%)
- Engineering (79.1%)
- Dentistry (76.1%)
- Business (75.3%)
- Architecture (74.9%)
- Nursing (74.9%)
- Law (72.8%)
What the statistics say
A good gauge for employability of your chosen degree is to review how employable previous graduates have been in this field. This information is often published by your chosen university, so try to check this when reviewing your course choices.
Government agencies often also publish this data. For example, the Higher Education Statistics Agency of the UK has made information available on graduate outcomes between 2019/20 to 2021/22. From this we can see how employable responding graduates of UK universities have been, divided into in the following broad subject areas:
HESA, UK graduate outcomes by subject area, 2021/22 academic year
| Subject area | Employed Full time | Employed part time | Further study |
| Veterinary sciences | 79% | 6% | 2% |
| Architecture & building | 71% | 6% | 3% |
| Education and teaching | 70% | 10% | 2% |
| Medicine and dentistry | 69% | 7% | 6% |
| Engineering and technology | 69% | 5% | 6% |
| Business and management | 66% | 8% | 3% |
| Geography (social sciences) | 65% | 7% | 8% |
| Computing | 64% | 9% | 5% |
| Subjects allied to medicine | 63% | 12% | 5% |
| Geography (natural sciences) | 63% | 7% | 10% |
| Media, journalism and communications | 62% | 15% | 3% |
| Law | 61% | 6% | 7% |
| Mathematics sciences | 60% | 5% | 12% |
| Social sciences | 60% | 9% | 7% |
| Agriculture and food | 58% | 14% | 6% |
| Physical sciences | 55% | 6% | 15% |
| Psychology | 53% | 12% | 6% |
| Biological and sport sciences | 51% | 11% | 12% |
| Languages and related studies | 49% | 15% | 9% |
| History, philosophy and religion | 48% | 12% | 12% |
| Design, creative & performing arts | 46% | 27% | 4% |
In Australia, similar data is published in the Graduate Outcomes Survey by the Australian government’s QILT, which collects data that shows, by subject area. how employable are the students who have recently graduated from Australian universities.
GOS, Australian graduates outcomes by subject areas, 2023 academic year
| Subject area | Employed Full time |
| Pharmacy | 98.4% |
| Medicine | 95.6% |
| Rehabilitation | 95.6% |
| Veterinary science | 92.1% |
| Teacher education | 89.6% |
| Engineering | 89.2% |
| Nursing | 86.8% |
| Business and management | 84.5% |
| Law and paralegal studies | 84.5% |
| Dentistry | 83.2% |
| Agriculture and environmental studies | 82.1% |
| Social work | 80.7% |
| Architecture and built environment | 78.7% |
| Health sciences and support | 78% |
| Computing and Information Systems | 74.4% |
| Tourism, Hospitality, Personal Services, Sport and recreation | 73% |
| Psychology | 72.7% |
| Humanities, culture and social sciences | 71.8% |
| Science and mathematics | 69.8% |
| Communications | 64.9% |
| Creative arts | 53.5% |
What are the current employment trends in industry
One of the key factors you should consider if you are choosing your degree with your future career in mind is what demand there is from industry for employees, and what the demand will be when you graduate.
Technology has, in many cases, changed the way we work, and as such, the type of work that is available for graduates. With that being said, there are some industries that will always require additional workforce.
Here are some of the top current employment sectors around the world.
Healthcare
There will always be demand for healthcare professionals. In Australia, which employs over 2 million people in the healthcare sector, the healthcare sector grew by 4% over the last year. Australia, like many other nations, has a society with growing life expectancy, which leads to increased demand across all areas of healthcare.
Particular demand for healthcare will always be present in areas such as dentistry, medicine, and nursing.
Other degrees that lead to good careers in healthcare include fields such as:
- Physiotherapy
- Psychology
- Nutrition
- Social work
- Midwifery
IT, Software development, AI & cyber security
Software development has seen rapid growth around the world in recent years, and despite rapid advances in the capability of AI, the need for developers is not going away just yet.
You may indeed wish to study artificial intelligence and help work out how to harness AI for the continued betterment of mankind. AI as a field worldwide is expected to grow annually by around 28%, making it an attractive area to choose for degree studies.
Cyber security is another area of computing that has become particularly important, and there is a growing demand for skilled professionals who know how to protect people’s data
If you like the idea of practising analytical thinking and mathematics to make sense of the world, data science is another rapidly growing field in IT.
If working in software and computing is something that interests you, in order to pursue a career in developing applications and software, popular degrees include those such as:
- Software engineering
- Games designing
- Web design
- Cyber security
- Artificial intelligence
- Data science
Education
Like healthcare, there will always be demand for professionals in education and training.
According to a 2023 Unesco report, there is an urgent need to train 44 million teachers worldwide by the year 2030, both in developing nations and in regions like Europe and North America.
If you want to pursue a career in education, you are allowed some freedom when you choose your degree. For example, in order to become a teacher in the UK, teachers at primary or secondary level are required to have a degree in any subject, before they train specifically as a teacher, which might be through a postgraduate PGCE course.
If this is a route that interests you, perhaps consider studying a degree subject that translates well to teaching, such as mathematics, computer science, geography, physical education or creative arts.
You may also take a dedicated teaching degree, such as a Bachelor of Education (BEd) degree, or a degree in Primary or Secondary education.
Renewable Energy
Bridging sciences, engineering and emerging technologies, renewable energy is a field that is seeing rapid growth around the world, and this is only likely to accelerate as we look for alternative, greener energy sources.
If this is a field that you see your future in, look for degrees such as:
- Sustainable energy
- Renewable energy
- Clean technology
- Energy engineering
Finance and accounting
Another category that consistency provides demand for workforce around the world is finance, which requires graduates who are mathematically skilled and can turn their talents to areas such as investment banking and financial analysis.
How employment rates and jobs differ by location
If you are searching for degrees with the highest employment rate, you should be aware that employment rates also depend on your location.
If you are planning to live and work abroad after your studies, the country you choose, or even the city in which you plan to live can have a big effect on both your chances of employment and the type of work available.
To highlight this point, data published by Eurostat, an official website of the European union, shows that whilst the average employment rate in 2023 for recent university graduates in the whole of Europe was 83.5%, this number fluctuated noticeably by country.
In several countries, including the Netherlands, Germany, Sweden, Ireland and Estonia the employment rate of university graduates was over 90%. In other countries, such as Italy and Greece, the average employment rate was below 75%.
You should also take into account the type of job you want after completing your studies.
For example, if you want to live in Australia and work in IT, you should look at basing yourself in a city where there is a strong technology infrastructure and a well-established range of IT companies, such as Sydney, Brisbane and Melbourne.
Don’t discount your favourite degree choices
While statistics are very useful at helping you to predict which degrees will give you the best opportunity to find a graduate level job shortly after graduation, they don’t always paint the full picture.
For example, If you have your heart set on studying a degree in a subject within the creative arts, such as animation, acting, writing or fine arts, the data from the HESA and GOS shows that the level of creative arts graduates finding full-time employment is towards the bottom of the rankings.
The UK’s HESA report also shows that many of the UK’s creative arts graduates (27%) move into part-time employment after graduation. This could easily be attributed to the fact that full-time jobs in creative arts aren’t as numerous as in, for example, healthcare. But a career in creative art may follow a different path.
As an example, a student who has studied to become an artist is much more likely to take time to build up a portfolio of their artwork, perhaps whilst taking on part-time employment to pay their way.
Similarly, if you wanted to work in TV production, your career may start by picking up work experience on set, perhaps in the form of an internship, whilst you continue to build up a skillset and network of contacts that will help you to establish yourself in the sector.
The most useful degrees then, for you to consider for your studies, can sometimes be those that might not lead immediately to a graduate job, but those that provide a foundation for your long term aspirations.
Take your time to evaluate the common pathways toward your dream career to help you to choose your course. One such way is by speaking to successful alumni from your chosen course, and asking how their career paths panned out after graduating.
Maximise your chances of finding employment after graduation
No matter what subject you choose to study at university, here are some practical tips to help give you the best job opportunities when you graduate:
Speak to your university
Your university will be able to advise you about its links with industry at course and university level. If your university has close connections to a certain industry, perhaps due to geographical location, this can go a long way to providing you with the necessary contacts or opportunities for suitable experience to help you establish your career.
Your university will also usually be able to provide you with employability statistics from previous students.
Research the common career path for your chosen studies
A full-time veterinary degree in the UK take between 5-6 years to complete, whereas you can find a graduate job in software development after completing a 3 year bachelor degree. This goes to show that the steps to succeeding in your chosen career can vary a lot depending on the subject.
Even when you have graduated, the path to your ideal job will differ a lot depending what you would like to do. You should make sure that you have a good idea of the steps you need to take to progress towards you chosen career, including the study requirements.
University gives you transferable skills
Completing a bachelor degree at university involves developing skills that are useful in a variety of workplaces. If you are studying at a college in the US, you will spend 2 years developing knowledge in a wide range of areas before you even choose your major.
When you graduate, remember that the skills you have learned make you a strong candidate for jobs across many disciplines, and you can use this to your advantage when looking for jobs by widening your search criteria. You may have studied with a particular role in mind, but when it comes to looking for a job, your degree is likely to be applicable for more roles than you might at first think.
Work placements during your studies
Consider looking at university courses that offer the opportunity for work experience. These are known as sandwich courses in the UK, co-op programmes in the US, and Work Integrated Learning in Australia.
A degree that includes a period of time where you have a relevant work placement can give you a great advantage when it comes to finding employment, perhaps even at the same company that provided your work experience.
Conclusion
The choice of your degree can certainly have an impact on your immediate employment prospects, with job opportunities usually more prevalent in sectors such as healthcare, medicine, business and engineering.
This may vary depending on the location in which you study, and where you will be looking for employment when you graduate.
Despite this, choosing your dream career needn’t always be driven by numbers. Ideally your career will also provide you with a lifetime of fulfilment, and if that means choosing a degree that doesn’t necessarily translate into an immediate graduate job, you should make sure that you investigate how to make your chosen degree and desired career work for you.