The occupational dynamics of recent Canadian engineering graduates inside and outside the bounds of technology

Abstract

The increasing pervasiveness of new technologies in a multitude of occupations seems to have given a labour market advantage to engineers, offering them a range of job opportunities outside the traditional bounds of technology with important financial and career rewards. In this context, the OECD Technology/Economy Programme (TEP) raised concerns regarding the extent of the increasing availability and attractiveness of job opportunities outside the traditional fields of employment for recent engineering graduates. They also, however, stressed that there was little hard information available to diagnose the problem. In Canada, a series of databases—the National Graduates Surveys—allows us to conclude that: (i) there has been no increase in the proportion of recent engineering graduates working in non-technical occupations except for the management ladder, especially engineering management; (ii) when analysed in a static perspective, non-engineering occupations do not appear to have generally offered advantages over more traditional occupations; and (iii) using a more dynamic `mover–stayer' analysis which more fully exploits the longitudinal nature of the data, non-technical occupations and, in particular, the management ladder, have offered certain advantages for at least some engineering graduates, thereby raising some concerns in line with those expressed by the OECD/TEP.