Graduate unemployment figures on the rise

News Article - 07 February 2011
Category: Business

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) has revealed that the number of unemployed graduates has doubled since the start of the recession. This report follows figures released this week indicating that the number of graduate-entry vacancies had risen despite a 0.5 per cent reduction in the UK economy in Q4 2010.

Liz Field, chief executive of the Financial Services Skills Council (FSSC), fears the growing number of jobless graduates will pose a serious risk to the nation's economic growth.

"It is essential that quality vocational qualifications, such as apprenticeships be made available for new entrants and we believe to graduates in the job market.

"The competitiveness of the British economy is dependent upon harnessing the talents of a rich and diverse talent pool across the UK. The onus is on business and education training providers to be more creative and flexible with jobseekers," said Field.

The ONS' statistics suggest that there are a staggering 352,000 households across the UK in which no adults have ever worked. This figure has doubled since 1997, although the ONS believes that approximately 83,000 of these households are those in which all occupants are full-time students aged 16-24.

With graduate unemployment at a 15-year high, one in five university leavers are entering the job market and failing to gain employment. Meanwhile research last month suggested that more than 45 students would be applying for each graduate job available in 2011.

Aaron Porter, National Union of Students president, said: "These new figures show that graduates are encountering an exceptionally hostile jobs market and the government persists with policies that put the burden of the country's debt on the young."

Many graduates now have to learn to cope with rejection and maintain their morale with competition for jobs so intense. Job hunting is now simply a full-time pursuit. For businesses, this manifests as an increase in applications, making it far harder to differentiate between candidates and ensure the best job seekers are selected.

Access has engineered standalone and fully integrated HR solutions that allow businesses to better cope with recruitment and selection campaigns and ensure the best talent is recruited. Access HR software accelerates the process of a recruitment campaign from creating a vacancy to transferring new employees to payroll, saving firms significant time that can be redistributed to key tasks.

For more information, please call Access on 0845 345 3300.

Article keywords: Office of National Statistics, ONS, Liz Field, Financial Services Skills Council, FSSC, Aaron Porter, National Union of Students, Access HR software solutions

---

More industry news

• Think tank warns UK may have already slipped back into recession
• Growing demand for HR staff in technology and international sectors
• Boosting business growth a ‘priority’ to avoid Eurozone slowdown
• HMRC launches alternative disputes pilot scheme this week
• December employment statistics disregard gloomy recruitment predictions
• Eurozone manufacturing PMI shows modest improvement
• UK scores highly for economic governance by ratings agency
• Government launches two-year project focusing on manufacturing sector
• Burden of regulation on UK businesses ‘too high’

Back to news home page »