AI warping job prospects for UK computer science and economics graduates

AI may be warping the job prospects for students in the previously high-demand subjects of computer science and economics, according to a detailed look into the careers of recent UK graduates.

Data obtained for the 2027 Guardian University Guide published on Saturday shows that coding and software development were the fastest-falling occupations for graduates last year, while employer demand for graduates in well-paid roles in financial categories such as economists and management consultants also declined.

Experts said graduates looking to work in those areas might be the first to be directly affected by the application of AI, and confirm predictions that AI would disrupt the labour market through agents increasingly able to produce software and analysis quickly and efficiently.

Matt Hiely-Rayner, the director of the Intelligent Metrix consultancy who compiles the Guardian’s guide, said the figures showed that the proportion of computer science graduates finding professional jobs as coders or programmers had fallen from about 40% previously to just 28% last year.

The proportion of computer science graduates moving into any graduate-level occupation has also declined from more than 60% two years ago to just 50%.

“With AI providing such responsive and cheap grunt work in this field, it’s hard not to conclude that this is behind the trend,” Hiely-Rayner said.

The graduate outcomes survey, conducted by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, gathered responses from more than 350,000 former students 15 months after they completed their courses in 2024, asking detailed questions about their careers since leaving university.

Charlie Ball, the head of labour market intelligence for Jisc, the UK’s data and technology agency for education and research, said there were signs that computer science graduates were diversifying into other related roles such as cybersecurity and network engineering.

“It is clear that something did happen to the software developer labour market last year. While I’m reluctant to say that AI did it, because there’s little evidence, it’s very hard to escape the conclusion that AI has played a role,” Ball said.

“It shows the signs of an industry that is changing, and graduates are feeling the sharp end of that because they are the largest group of new employees. It’s not collapsed entirely, there are still roles available, but pure coding jobs seem to have been in particularly short supply in 2025.”

Similarly, economics graduates who previously enjoyed strong demand from employers have also seen their job prospects change.

Ball said: “I’ve talked to a lot of finance employers about their use of AI, and most saying they are not replacing jobs with it, they are changing jobs. They expect new hires to have familiarity with AI.

“But it is a fast-moving field and employers are not unanimous on this. Some have an appetite for risk and are embracing AI tools and laying people off, in the hope that it will give them an edge. But that may not persist, because everyone is experimenting right now.”

The Guardian’s annual evaluation of undergraduate courses places the universities of Oxford and Cambridge and the London School of Economics in the top three overall, using data in individual subjects on academic progression, staffing ratios, spending per student, graduate employment and other measures.

Among the changes in the 2027 tables is the rise of the University of Birmingham to its highest ever position of 14th overall, driven by improvements in student satisfaction.

Adam Tickell, Birmingham’s vice-chancellor, said the university was helping students prepare for the changing labour market by weaving the skills demanded by employers into its courses, and by an option for its undergraduates to add an “intercalated year” in different subjects such as AI and data science without the prerequisites normally needed.

“This is about equipping people for the world they are in, whether or not we like the world we are becoming,” Tickell said.

“Our young people need to understand how to use these things properly. It’s about giving students the ability to do a deep dive into the way the world is changing.”