Medicine, Engineering, and Computer Science Lead in Employment and Salaries

Medicine, the most technological engineering fields, and Computer Science are the university studies in Spain that most likely guarantee students employment and good salaries shortly after graduation. Conversely, degrees with the lowest job placement are those in the Arts and Humanities. This conclusion comes from a study by the Knowledge and Development Foundation (CYD), which considers factors such as Social Security affiliation rates, salary, job stability or precariousness, and the alignment of the job with the studies completed by Spanish university graduates four years after graduation.

Experts from this analysis centre begin by establishing a comparison framework, with average values of graduates across all fields of study, demonstrating that, in any case, most higher education studies are a guarantee for the job market and for enjoying a good quality of life. Three out of four university graduates who had completed their studies four years ago in 2023 were employed, 77% had permanent contracts, 80% worked full-time, and the gross annual salary was around 30,976 euros. The negative aspect is excessive overqualification. Only 60% held a position that matched their academic training.

The pinnacle of professional profitability is occupied by Medicine. 94% of its recent graduates, most of whom were still training as specialists, were employed, all working in roles for which they were trained, and their average salary was nearly 42,000 euros gross annually. Its only weak point, as is also the case with Nursing, another notable degree, is precariousness. Only 2% had permanent contracts.

By fields of knowledge, the studies that most guarantee good employment are Computer Science, Engineering and Architecture, and Health Sciences. In all three cases, they have employment rates 8 to 14 points above the average, with salaries 3,000 to 6,000 euros higher and very little overqualification in the job. The first two fields guarantee great job stability, with permanent contracts in 90% to 94% of cases, but this is the weakness of the health branch, as temporary contracts reach 60%.

If we look at specific degrees, those with the highest quality and quantity of employment, besides Medicine, and in this order, are Industrial Organization Engineering, Telecommunications Engineering, Computer Science, Software Development, and Image and Sound Engineering. They have employment rates of 86% to 90%, between 93% and 96% of permanent and full-time contracts, and salaries ranging from 35,444 euros to 38,248 euros.

On the opposite side, with the lowest employment and highest precariousness, are the fields of Arts and Humanities, Services, and Education. Arts and Humanities stand out for their low employability (63.5%), twelve points below the average, and their low salaries (27,185 euros), more than 3,000 euros less. Services, which includes studies like Tourism or Protocol, is notable for being overqualified in 70% of the jobs they obtain, for having salaries about 3,000 euros lower than the average, and for employability about two points lower. Education has salaries about 2,000 euros below the average, 42% part-time contracts, and about ten points fewer permanent contracts.

If we delve into the details, the degrees with the worst job placement and poorest quality contracts are, in this order, Fine Arts, some philologies, Art History, Geography, and Conservation and Restoration. They have employment rates 15 to 19 points below the average four years after graduation (Fine Arts is the lowest at 57%), very high overqualification (in Art History only 32% work in a position of their academic category), and salaries between 5,000 and 9,000 euros lower than the average, with Restoration (21,980 euros gross annually) and Geography (22,158) at the bottom.

Another of the most controversial aspects of the CYD Foundation report is the gender employment gap faced by female university graduates four years after graduation compared to their male peers. They earn less and face greater precariousness. While their male peers from the 2018-19 cohort have nearly 79% permanent contracts, women have 68% (nine points lower) and earn on average about 2,285 euros less gross annually.

The salary gap would be partly justified, as analysts explain, because women graduate and are employed much more in fields with poorer job placement indicators, such as Education and Arts and Humanities, and, conversely, are a minority in the areas with the strongest salaries, such as engineering and Computer Science.

But that factor does not explain the entire gap, as this research shows, female graduates, four years after leaving university, earn less than their male counterparts in every single field of study at Spanish universities. That is, with identical training, they also have lower contracts. The fields of Services, Business, Administration and Law, and Social Sciences, Journalism, and Documentation stand out, with negative differences for women of 3,553, 3,017, and 2,888 euros, respectively.