A survey carried out on 45,065 university graduates has shown that nearly 28% of those who graduated in 2007 have still not been able to find full time employment.Approximately 21% were in further stufy or part time employment and 3.5% responded “other” when asked what they were doing for work.

The Higher Education Statistics Agency has stated that approximately 3.5% of graduates are unemployed, a 0.9% increase from the number of enemployed post graduates who left university in 2005. The General Secratary of the University and College Union has expressed concern over this rise.

The survey showed that of those graduates who had been unable to find full time work, 6.5% were continuing to study full time, 5.3% were both working and studying and 8.8% were working part time. 3.6% responded as “other” meaning an estimated 3.5% are unemployed.

The results also implyed that male post graduates were earning more money than women. 14% of men who graduated from University in 2007 are now earning between £30,000 and 34,999 whereas this is the case for only 9.3% of women. 29.4% of women in full time employment are earning in the region of 20,000 and 24,999 as opposed to 15.6% of men.

In addition to these disappointing statistics concerning employment, 21.5% of all the graduates surveyed felt that university had not helped them prepare for their chosen career and of this number, 6.4% said that it had not helped them at all.

Further results showed that more than 10% felt that their university education had not been worth the fees they had paid. However, the majority (84.2%) responded that they were satisfied with how their careers have gone so far.

The response to the survey results has been varied. Universities UK has said that the rise in unemployed graduates is the result of the recession which has affected many of us. It believes however, that having a degree is still very worthwhile as it increases employability. In contrast, the National Union of Students has warned that unless the government starts to support young people more, a generation will be overcome by high levels of unemployment and low levels of high skills. It has suggested that there should be more support both financially and in the education system.

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About The Author

Lee Murphy

MAAT and ICPA accountant, with a passion for making accountancy and bookkeeping accessible. Other interests include cloud-based software development for web and mobile access, keeping fit, reading, and entrepreneurship.

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