Background to
the Research
- This
study explores the labour market positions of Protestant and Catholic
graduates. It follows the career experiences of Protestants and Catholics
who entered higher education in Northern Ireland in 1979, and reports
on levels of graduate employment and earnings.
Research
Approach
- This
study follows a cohort of 1979 Northern Irish entrants to higher education
from selection of their 'A'-level subjects through their degree courses
to the early years of their post-degree experience. All individuals
who received a higher education grant from one of the Education and
Library Boards in Northern Ireland for the first time in the academic
year 1979/80 were included in the study. This cohort of entrants to
higher education were surveyed by post in 1980 when they were first
year students and then again in 1985/86 several years after most had
finished their degrees. The analyses reported here concentrate on data
from the second survey. Multivariate loglinear analyses were carried
out in order to control for the high level of interaction of religion
with other variables.
Main
findings
- Protestant
graduates are more likely to have obtained 'degree-level' jobs, while
Catholics are more likely to be unemployed or in work that could be
considered menial for graduates. However this differential labour market
position is largely due to the subject studied at college - as well
as a number of other factors.
- Northern
Irish Catholics living in Britain do no better than their counterparts
in Northern Ireland.
- There
is little evidence to suggest that active discrimination against Catholic
graduates is occurring in Northern Ireland.
- However
even though it is not 'religion' that brings about disadvantage it is
still true that Catholic graduates tend to be disproportionately disadvantaged.
The students most likely to succeed tend to be from middle-class backgrounds,
achieve good 'A'-level results in science or technology and continue
on in the same subjects at degree level. This group tend to be male
and Protestant. In contrast, the students least likely to succeed tend
to be from working-class backgrounds, with lower 'A'-level grades in
non-science subjects and then continue on in the same manner in higher
education. This group are disproportionately female and Catholic.
- The most
realistic way of redressing this imbalance is to influence choice of
subjects studied at (Catholic) schools and subsequently at college.
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