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8. COVID-19 Impact



The impact of COVID-19 has been profound – understanding how different cohorts are impacted is of significant importance. An OECD (2021) report suggests that individuals have been disproportionately affected by the pandemic, with certain sectors suffering more than others.

This chapter seeks to explore the impact of COVID-19 on graduate outcomes, by comparing the Class of 2020 to previous cohorts*:

  • By programme type
  • By field of study
  • By gender

Overall, the proportion of graduates in employment has decreased, while the proportion in unemployment has increased

In 2017, 78.1% of graduates were in employment nine months after graduation. In 2018, this had increased to 80.1%. In 2020, this has dropped to 75.9%.

In 2017, 4.6% of graduates were unemployed nine months after graduation. In 2018, this had dropped to 4.3%. In 2020, this has increased to 8.1%.


By Programme Type

  • Employment Prospects

  • Unemployment highest amongst Masters Taught graduates

  • Engaged in Other Activities


By Field of Study

As the largest drops in employment and largest increases in unemployment are observed amongst Undergraduate Honours Degree graduates and Taught Masters graduates, this section will focus solely on these two programme types.

  • Undergraduate Honours Degree Graduates

  • Masters Taught graduates

  • Did you know?


By Detailed Field of Study

For Undergraduate Honours Degree graduates, Arts & Humanities, Social Sciences, Journalism & Information, and Services graduates are the most impacted, with large drops in employment or large increases in unemployment.  As such, the text in this section relates primarily to graduates of these fields of study. However, detailed fields of study are available in the below chart for every field of study. Note that any detailed field of study with less than 20 observations in a year are excluded from the visual.

  • Undergraduate Honours Degree graduates


By Gender

  • Undergraduate Honours Degree Graduates


  • Looking for more information?

Next Chapter: Appendix

* Note that previous cohorts include the Class of 2017 and 2018 only. The Class of 2019 data is unavailable, as the timing of the survey coincided with the sudden onset of COVID-19. To minimise the burden on students and institutes alike, the decision was made to cancel the Class of 2019 Graduate Outcomes survey.

Note: filtering can result in a low number of graduates that fit specific criteria. Any criteria that result in less than five graduates being represented are excluded from the graphs in this report. Nonetheless, the Total provided will be inclusive of any excluded fields.