{"id":318666,"date":"2019-07-13T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2019-07-13T07:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=318666"},"modified":"2019-07-12T15:36:46","modified_gmt":"2019-07-12T13:36:46","slug":"heres-how-many-wits-and-uct-students-are-employed-after-graduating","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/318666\/heres-how-many-wits-and-uct-students-are-employed-after-graduating\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s how many Wits and UCT students find employment after graduating"},"content":{"rendered":"

StatsSA’s latest unemployment statistics<\/a> <\/strong>show that it is becomingly increasingly difficult for young people to find jobs in South Africa – even if they have a degree.<\/p>\n

Among graduates in the 15\u201324 years age group the unemployment rate was 31% during this period, compared to 19.5% in the fourth quarter of 2019 \u2013 an increase of 11.4 percentage points quarter-on-quarter.<\/p>\n

However, despite this rather large increase, the unemployment rate among graduates is still lower than the rate among those with other educational levels.<\/p>\n

The unemployment rate for young South Africans with a matric was 55% in Q1 2019 – rising to 58.4% for those with less than a matric.<\/p>\n

By comparison, the unemployment rate is 47.5% for young South Africans who have obtained a qualification from a tertiary institution other than a university.<\/p>\n

This shows that education is still the key to these young people\u2019s prospects improving in the South African labour market, StatsSA said.<\/p>\n

Graduate exit surveys<\/strong><\/p>\n

With future job prospects on the line, the choice of where and what you study has become increasingly important in South Africa.<\/p>\n

One of the best indicators of how graduates are doing is the Graduate Exit Survey – typically completed by students before or at their graduation ceremony.<\/p>\n

These surveys typically ask students whether they are currently employed, how easy it was to find a job, and how much they are currently earning.<\/p>\n

Below are the survey results from two of the biggest universities in South Africa – the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand.<\/p>\n

UCT\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

UCT published its graduation survey results<\/a> <\/strong>for the class of 2018 at the start of May.<\/p>\n

The survey asked 4,791 graduating students about their plans after graduating and whether they had already secured employment.<\/p>\n

The private sector emerged as the leading employer of 53.46% of graduates, with 19.71% employed in the public sector, and 6.01% by non-governmental organisations (NGOs).<\/p>\n

In respect of their monthly earnings, the research indicated that 23.39% of students earn between R20,000 and R30,000, 16.14% earn between R15,001 and R20,000, and 5.21% between R5,001 and R7,000.<\/p>\n

Around 80% of UCT\u2019s class of 2018 are \u201cmeaningfully occupied\u201d. Of these:<\/p>\n