The co-op employment rate consists of the number of employed students divided by the total number of students participating in co-op recruitment.
Employment rate
Employed students (EI, ER, ES, EJ)
Total students participating in recruitment (EI, ER, ES, EJ, UI, US, UA)
*Excluded are students not scheduled out for work (UO, UU, X, F +)
The total population of students participating in recruitment is comprised of: all employed students, students searching for employment through the traditional co-op interview process (UI status students), students searching for employment outside the co-op interview process (US status), and students awaiting a decision on employment secured externally to the co-op interview process (UA status).
|
Student work term statuses |
Description |
|---|---|
| EI (employed: interview process) |
The student has received employment via the co-op interview process.
|
| EJ (employed: jointly arranged) | The student has secured employment outside the co-op interview process with the help of Co-operative Education or with an employer who has previously hired from Waterloo. |
| ES (employed: student arranged) | The student has secured employment outside the co-op interview process |
| ER (employed: returning) |
The student is returning to a previous employer on their next scheduled work term.
|
| UI (unemployed: interview process) |
The student is searching for employment via the co-op interview process.
|
| UA (unemployed: awaiting decision) | The student has secured, or is in the final stages of securing, employment external to the co-op employment process, and is currently in the co-op review process. |
| UO (unemployed: on own self-imposed) |
The student has been granted a leave of absence and will not receive credit for the work term.
|
| US (unemployed: student arranged) | The student has not been fully engaged in the co-op process or has received a penalty that denies them access to WaterlooWorks. The student must arrange their own job or discuss a status change with their advisor. |
| UU (unemployed: on own university-imposed) |
Assigned on behalf of the student's faculty to a student who has not met the requirements of the co-op employment process and/or the work term, or is being reprimanded for a non-academic offence as defined by Policy 71.
|
| F (failed work term) | The student has not met the requirements for the interview process or the work term. |
| X (on exchange) | The student is on an exchange term at an educational institution outside Canada. |
New employment rate vs the Legacy employment rate
In spring 2017, a co-op executive council (CEC) metrics working group was established to assess the employment rate. The working group was comprised of the associate deans, co-operative education and members of co-operative and experiential education. Beginning with the fall 2019 work term, a new employment rate will be reported moving forward. The goal with the new rate is to improve the transparency within this metric, ensuring that all students actively participating in co-op recruitment are captured.
Legacy employment rate
Employed students (EI, ER, ES, EJ)
+
Non-participating students (UO, US, UA, UU, X, F)
Students scheduled out for work (All above + UI students)
*Excluded: Students not scheduled out for work
Co-op employment rate
Employed students (EI, ER, ES, EJ)
Total students participating in recruitment (EI, ER, ES, EJ, UI, US, UA)
*Excluded: Students not scheduled out for work (UO, UU, X, F+)
The legacy employment rate was calculated to include students who were not actively participating in co-op recruitment (UO, UU, X, F status students), and only counted students searching for employment through the co-op interview process as active in recruitment (UI status students vs. UI, US, UA students in the updated employment rate.)
Changes to the new employment rate include:
- Students not actively participating in co-op recruitment are now excluded from the rate.
- The group of unemployed students participating in recruitment will grow from UI students to now comprise students with a UI, US and UA status.
- The change will result in an average drop of 1.3 percentage points vs. the previously calculated rate (legacy employment rate) when re-stating historical rates from 2015 to 2018, but still represents a record-high employment rate for the co-op program at UWaterloo.
| Rate |
2015/16 |
2016/17 |
2017/18 |
2018/19 |
Formula |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Legacy employment rate |
97.29% | 97.68% | 98.50% | 98.76% |
(employed + NP) / scheduled out |
|
New employment rate |
95.95% |
96.46% |
97.18% |
97.58% |
employed / (employed + UI + US + UA) |
| Difference between the legacy rate and the new rate | -1.34% | -1.22% | -1.32% | -1.18% | new employment rate - legacy employment rate |