Employment Reports on FGCU Graduates

In Career Development Services, periodically we are asked by students and parents about the employment rate and earnings of FGCU graduates. In light of the uncertainty in the job market, the question is being asked more frequently. Florida Gulf Coast University does not administer employment surveys to students after they have graduated. This is not uncommon – at the time of this writing, no other state universities in Florida have implemented a system that surveys all of its graduates each year. However, the Florida Department of Education administers the Florida Education and Training Placement Information Program (FETPIP), which is an interagency data consumer reporting system. It collects data that describes, among other things, the employment rates and earnings of graduates from Florida’s eleven public universities whom remain in the state of Florida. (See description of survey methodology below.)

This link will connect you to the last three reports generated by the FETPIP program:

http://www.fldoe.org/fetpip/sus.asp

What this data does not include:

• Graduates that leave the state after graduation are not included in the data since only employers in the state of Florida provide data. Therefore, these reports should not be interpreted to reflect the overall employment rate of FGCU graduates.
• Whether graduates are employed in a position related to their program of study.
• Employment data of graduates beyond one year of graduation.

Unlike other surveys that require the student to self-report their employment, education, and earnings status, FETPIP information is gathered from the employers. As part of the wage report system that is used to manage the state unemployment compensation program, employers are required to report quarterly payrolls to the Florida Department of Revenue. This information is cross-referenced with the Social Security number of graduates from each of the eleven state universities. When there is a "hit", data is collected that indicates the name and address of the employer and their employees reported earnings for the period. The annual data collection effort focuses on the October - December quarter. Therefore, the data collection lifecycle for each year begins in January, and covers all graduates from the previous spring, fall, and summer. The following year is spent compiling the data and preparing the information for dissemination.