According to The Times, a recent survey of graduates who left university in 2005 (conducted by the Higher Education Statistics Agency) found that graduate unemployment has risen by a third in the past two years and almost a quarter were still not in full-time work.
Of those who graduated in 2005, more than 11,000 were unemployed 3½ years later. The same figure for those who left university in 2003 was just 8,000.
Among those with postgraduate qualifications, 85 per cent had been in graduate level jobs since leaving university compared with 56 per cent of those with just a bachelor’s degree.
Universities report that the number applying to start postgraduate courses this year has jumped as the graduate job market dries up. Sixty per cent of employers have cut their recruitment of graduates.
At Imperial College London, applications are up 21.8 per cent overall. Starting salaries are on average £3,000 higher for postgraduates than graduates, the survey of 41,000 graduates found.
But the cost of study beyond a first degree is borne by the student and no government funding is available for courses that cost £3,200 on average for a one-year master’s.
Sally Hunt, the general secretary of the University and College Union, said that graduates who can offer more than their peers will be at an advantage when looking for work. “Unfortunately the widening participation agenda is currently aimed purely at encouraging more undergraduates,” she said.
Among the class of 2005, nearly a fifth (19 per cent) of those working full or part-time were not in graduate professions, and more than one in ten said that they had been out of work at least once.
Almost a quarter of graduates were not yet in full-time paid work. The figures represent students who graduated before the recession hit — and the picture is much gloomier for the class of 2009.
Last year’s survey of graduate destinations (What do graduates do) looked at destinations before the recession had fully hit. Graduate unemployment had been falling (5.5% in 2007 compared to 6% in 2006), but there continues to be a lot of variation by subject studied:
• Arts & humanities 5.2% unemployed (but more opting for further study)
• Engineering from 2.4% (civil engineering) to 7.7% (electrical & electronic)
• Business & management 3.3%
• IT 9.5%
• Science from 3.9% (sports science) to 7% (physics)
• Social sciences (eg economics, law, politics, psychology, sociology) almost all falling unemployment
Salaries were increasing (average £19,300 in 2007) but even before the recession students were beginning to realise that increasing graduate numbers will mean a slowdown in salary increase.
In recent years (2004-07) more graduates have been entering:
• Business & financial careers (eg accounts, recruitment consultants) – 8.8% of graduates from 7.2%
• Arts, design, culture & sports (eg artists, journalists) – 4.2% from 3.3%
• Social & welfare (eg social workers, housing officers) – 4.2% from 3.3%
• Health (eg nursing, physiotherapists) – 13.5% from 12.8%
Fewer graduates entering commercial & public sector management and ‘non-graduate jobs’ in admin, retail and customer service.
Trevor Bottomley
Employment & Labour Market Adviser
Central London Connexions
November 2009