Graduate employment on the rise

Graduate employment in the UK is gradually increasing, according to a new report from the Higher Education Careers Services Unit.

The research, published on 7 November, also found that university leaver’s in graduate level jobs has reached a record high.

The findings are part of HECSU’s annual ‘What do Graduates do?’ report and will be seen as encouraging by many prospective university leavers.

Charlie Ball, deputy research director at HECSU said: “While graduate unemployment has fallen, it remains high in comparison to levels reported at the beginning of the recession and graduates still face stiff competition - not just from their peers but also from more recent graduates. Slow but sustained economic recovery should be mirrored in the graduate labour market but developments over the next few months will need to be closely monitored.”

HECSU is a UK organisation which conducts research in order to assist graduates in searching for employment as well as providing news and information for development in career-related learning and career guidance.

‘What do Graduates do?’ has compiled and reported the employment situation of both full and part time first degree graduates six months after graduating in 2010.
It was found that 284,160 students graduated with a first degree with 69.7 per cent of those in employment; a 7.9 per cent increase on the previous year.

In addition, the report found that graduate unemployment has marginally decreased to 8.5 per cent from 8.9 per cent in 2009.

However, the most positive statistic for those in their final year of university will be that a record 63.4 per cent (100,265) of graduates have achieved graduate level jobs, which is a 9.2 per cent increase on 2009.

Nevertheless, students are being reminded to treat the findings with caution as, although graduate unemployment has dropped for the first time since the recession, recovery is still slow and jobs sparse.