Purpose:

• To determine extent to which graduates from SAIT programs find employment
• To determine the type of employment
• To determine the level of starting salaries

Timing:

A survey of 2009/10 graduates was conducted between February 15th and May 4th, 2011. Information was obtained from 2,109 credit program graduates (out of 3,119 credit graduate records), constituting a 68% response rate. In addition, the survey was conducted with 201 pre-employment graduates (out of 310 pre-employment graduate records), resulting in a 65% response rate.

Database:

Student Services generated a list of 2009/10 graduates from SAIT programs. Besides the graduate's name, information on program finished, contact telephone number and email address was provided. Overall, the database included records on 3,429 graduates: 3,119 from credit programs and 310 from pre-employment programs.

Methodology:

To compile the 2010 employment statistics, SAIT retained the services of Insightrix Research Inc., an independent market research company. The survey was conducted by using a multimode data collection methodology – telephone and online. Results were collected online for the first two weeks of the study and then telephone surveying was used for those who had yet to respond. The two modes were conducted simultaneously for the remainder of the study, with the majority (70%) being collected by phone and the remaining 30% collected by online.

The overall margin of error is equal to plus or minus 1.2 percentage points 19 out of 20 times. Telephone directories, internet searches, directory assistance and Facebook profiles were used to locate contact, where needed. A minimum of 10 telephone attempts were used to make an initial contact with the graduate and eight email reminders were sent during the course of the study.

Analysis:

The data were input into a database and analyzed. Survey results of those who responded to the survey were subsequently extrapolated to the entire population of graduates/completers. Caution should be used when examining small programs. With smaller base sizes, the percentages may offer a distorted picture when one respondent represents 10% or 20% of the total.

Definitions used:

In Labour Force - graduates who are employed or unemployed but looking for work.

Employed - graduates employed at the time of the survey, or had been employed prior to the survey for three or more months

Employment rate - the number of employed graduates as a percentage of all those graduates that responded to the survey and were seeking employment.

Full-time employment - 30 or more hours of work per week

Permanent employment - the number of graduates employed in permanent jobs

Annualized salary - graduates were given a choice to provide salary information in a form of annual or monthly income, daily or weekly earnings or hourly wages. If the student provided this info in a unit other than the annual salary, the following calculations were used to derive respondents’ annualized salaries in full-time jobs:

• Hourly wage X (hours worked per week) X 52
• Daily wage X 5 (days a week) X 52
• Weekly salary X 52
• Bi-weekly salary X 26
• Monthly salary X 12