The two charts show what graduate and postgraduate British students did in 2008 if they did not take up full time work. The students are grouped into four categories, namely: those who did part-time work, volunteer work, further study, and those who were unemployed.

 

Looking at the two graphs in overview, the most salient feature is that although the number of postgraduate students is only about a tenth of the number of graduates, the patterns are roughly the same. The one exception is part-time work, where this option was a relatively more popular choice for postgraduates.

 

Looking at the graphs in closer detail and doing a quick bit of arithmetic, we can see that the total number of graduates who did not find full time employment was about 67 thousand whereas the corresponding number of postgraduates was about 7 thousand, or about one tenth. In both cases, further study was the most popular choice, followed by part-time work, then unemployment, and with a relatively small number taking up volunteer work.

 

The main difference is that while for graduates the number who landed part-time work (17,735) was a little over half the number who pursued further study (29,665), for post graduates the number of part-time workers was a only a little less than the number who went on to further study (i.e., 2,535 and 2,725 respectively.)

 

To sum up, patterns of employment and further study did not differ greatly between graduates and post graduates in the UK in 2008. The biggest difference is in the actual numbers only.