Occupations of college graduates in Ontario
Graphic by Carrie Smith.
The employees at HEQCO come from a wide variety of educational backgrounds, everything from religious studies to sociology to economics to engineering. Workplaces benefit from having diversity in the training and perspectives of its employees. Inspired by work done by the US Census, we went to the Canadian National Household Survey to explore where bachelor’s degree graduates work in Ontario.
In this interactive graph we invite you to explore where university graduates from various fields of study work in the Ontario labour force, and conversely, from which fields of study the various segments of the labour market draw employees. Hover over a label to see the pathways more clearly.
Some fields have a strong direct path from field of study to occupational area. For example, 53% of graduates from health fields work in health-related occupations and 64% of those with bachelor’s degrees in education work as teachers or professors. Meanwhile, people with bachelor’s degrees in the humanities or law, social and behavioural sciences tend to be more distributed across the labour market. However, what is remarkable is that every occupational area draws employees from a variety of fields of study. In short, it is hard to say where a bachelor’s degree might lead someone to work and many pathways exist.
The underlying data are drawn from the Canadian National Household Survey (2011). The graph represents adults age 18 – 64 who hold a bachelor’s degree as their highest credential, and reported an occupation and employment income in 2010. For simplicity, people with post-graduate degrees (e.g. master’s and PhD), as well as degrees in medicine, dentistry, veterinary medicine and optometry, were excluded.
7 replies on “EduData – Where do university graduates work in Ontario?”
This graph helps in answering the number one burning question from university applicants and graduates. This graph is fascinating. It is especially helpful for areas like the Arts and Humanities, where there does not seem to be a direct connection to a career (outside of academia).
That has got to be the coolest infographic I’ve ever seen! Can you post that on LinkedIn, FB and Twitter so that it can be shared far and wide!! Very important info, especially given the new Grade 12 cohort and their parent’s journey to choose an educational path for next year!
Thanks for this–it’s superb.
Although we generally fail to achieve this level of usability, this is a prime example of what we hope data-visualization software to be, and do for us, when we need it to.
Naturally, the distinction needs to be made between where people *should* end up, and where they *do* end up, as well as the corresponding distinction to be made between where the various occupations *need* to draw employees from and where they *end up* drawing them from. If we’re all fortunate, the “should” and the “end ups” will be the same.
Finally, as stunning as this is, the next step beyond would be a 3rd dimension of time. That is, the ability to see where a field of study has led to over time, and where an occupation has drawn from over time. I’ll wait patiently. 😉
Brilliant work.
[…] week, we published an interactive infographic showing the relationship between programs of study and jobs. The infographic showed what many […]
so, if we see 0% for a specific field (life science for ex.) that means there are no ppl working in that field?
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