Cargando…

What Do Public Health Graduates Do and Where Do They Go? An Analysis of Job Destinations and Mismatch in Australian Public Health Graduates

Background: It is not well understood what occupations public health graduates have after graduation, nor is it well known whether their education provides them with the relevant knowledge and skills to feel well matched to their occupations. Furthermore, it is commonly presumed that public health g...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Watts, Rory David, Bowles, Devin C., Fisher, Colleen, Li, Ian W.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8304575/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34299952
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147504
_version_ 1783727368150450176
author Watts, Rory David
Bowles, Devin C.
Fisher, Colleen
Li, Ian W.
author_facet Watts, Rory David
Bowles, Devin C.
Fisher, Colleen
Li, Ian W.
author_sort Watts, Rory David
collection PubMed
description Background: It is not well understood what occupations public health graduates have after graduation, nor is it well known whether their education provides them with the relevant knowledge and skills to feel well matched to their occupations. Furthermore, it is commonly presumed that public health graduates work in government, and investments in education would bolster this workforce. Methods: We aimed to describe the common occupations of Australian public health graduates, describe the heterogeneity of graduate destinations, describe the level of mismatch that graduates report, and compare these results with other fields of study. We used eight years of Australian graduate survey data (2008–2015) from the Graduate Destinations Survey, examining outcomes data from 8900 public health graduates from four levels of education. We compared occupation and industry heterogeneity, and level of occupational mismatch between public health graduates, and graduates from other fields of education. Results: Public health graduates report having a broad set of occupations in a broad set of industries after graduation, and this breadth is dissimilar to most health degrees. Furthermore, public health graduates tend to have average or lower-than-average rates of mismatch. Conclusions: Despite going into a broad set of occupations and industries, graduates from public health tend to report being well prepared given their education. Given that both occupation and industry outcomes are heterogeneous for graduates, an investment in public health education does not guarantee an increase in the governmental public health workforce.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-8304575
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2021
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-83045752021-07-25 What Do Public Health Graduates Do and Where Do They Go? An Analysis of Job Destinations and Mismatch in Australian Public Health Graduates Watts, Rory David Bowles, Devin C. Fisher, Colleen Li, Ian W. Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Background: It is not well understood what occupations public health graduates have after graduation, nor is it well known whether their education provides them with the relevant knowledge and skills to feel well matched to their occupations. Furthermore, it is commonly presumed that public health graduates work in government, and investments in education would bolster this workforce. Methods: We aimed to describe the common occupations of Australian public health graduates, describe the heterogeneity of graduate destinations, describe the level of mismatch that graduates report, and compare these results with other fields of study. We used eight years of Australian graduate survey data (2008–2015) from the Graduate Destinations Survey, examining outcomes data from 8900 public health graduates from four levels of education. We compared occupation and industry heterogeneity, and level of occupational mismatch between public health graduates, and graduates from other fields of education. Results: Public health graduates report having a broad set of occupations in a broad set of industries after graduation, and this breadth is dissimilar to most health degrees. Furthermore, public health graduates tend to have average or lower-than-average rates of mismatch. Conclusions: Despite going into a broad set of occupations and industries, graduates from public health tend to report being well prepared given their education. Given that both occupation and industry outcomes are heterogeneous for graduates, an investment in public health education does not guarantee an increase in the governmental public health workforce. MDPI 2021-07-14 /pmc/articles/PMC8304575/ /pubmed/34299952 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147504 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Watts, Rory David
Bowles, Devin C.
Fisher, Colleen
Li, Ian W.
What Do Public Health Graduates Do and Where Do They Go? An Analysis of Job Destinations and Mismatch in Australian Public Health Graduates
title What Do Public Health Graduates Do and Where Do They Go? An Analysis of Job Destinations and Mismatch in Australian Public Health Graduates
title_full What Do Public Health Graduates Do and Where Do They Go? An Analysis of Job Destinations and Mismatch in Australian Public Health Graduates
title_fullStr What Do Public Health Graduates Do and Where Do They Go? An Analysis of Job Destinations and Mismatch in Australian Public Health Graduates
title_full_unstemmed What Do Public Health Graduates Do and Where Do They Go? An Analysis of Job Destinations and Mismatch in Australian Public Health Graduates
title_short What Do Public Health Graduates Do and Where Do They Go? An Analysis of Job Destinations and Mismatch in Australian Public Health Graduates
title_sort what do public health graduates do and where do they go? an analysis of job destinations and mismatch in australian public health graduates
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8304575/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34299952
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18147504
work_keys_str_mv AT wattsrorydavid whatdopublichealthgraduatesdoandwheredotheygoananalysisofjobdestinationsandmismatchinaustralianpublichealthgraduates
AT bowlesdevinc whatdopublichealthgraduatesdoandwheredotheygoananalysisofjobdestinationsandmismatchinaustralianpublichealthgraduates
AT fishercolleen whatdopublichealthgraduatesdoandwheredotheygoananalysisofjobdestinationsandmismatchinaustralianpublichealthgraduates
AT liianw whatdopublichealthgraduatesdoandwheredotheygoananalysisofjobdestinationsandmismatchinaustralianpublichealthgraduates