More than one in four graduates 'failing to find work'

Friday, 02 September 2011 11:23

More than a quarter of graduates in the UK fail to find work three-and-a-half years after leaving university, new figures have revealed.

According to a survey conducted by the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), 27.7 per cent of graduates who left university in 2006-07 were not in full-time work last November.

The figures, based on 49,065 responses from graduates who left that year, also revealed 8.8 per cent were in part-time or unpaid work, while 5.3 per cent were working and studying.

Just over six per cent were just studying, while 3.6 per cent were assumed to be unemployed.

This level of joblessness is an increase on previous years, with earlier HESA surveys showing 2.3 per cent of those who graduated in 2002/03 were assumed to be unemployed three-and-a-half years later, along with 2.6 per cent of those who left tertiary education in 2004/05.

Sally Hunt, general secretary of the University and College Union described this trend as "worrying".

"The jobs market is now even tougher and new students entering a system with the highest public university fees in the world deserve better prospects," she commented. "The countries investing in graduates and high skills are the ones who will prosper in the long run."

Meanwhile, just over a fifth of those polled said they did not think that university had prepared them for their career, with 6.4 per cent suggesting it had not prepared them at all.

Around one in ten did not think their degree course was good value for money, but 84.2 per cent said they were satisfied with their career to date.

Use the Myfinances.co.uk comparison tables to find the best deal on a personal loan 

• Tags:
• graduate loan
,
• jobs
,
• news