2nd September 2015 1:00
By Blue Tutors
A new report into graduate employment has shown that the majority of university graduates in the UK are working in non-graduate jobs. The report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development claims that 58.8% of graduates are working in jobs that do not require a degree, supporting fears that over qualification has reached “saturation point”. According to the CIPD, the number of graduates looking for work is far greater than the creation of high-skilled jobs, meaning that many graduates are working in low-skilled jobs where their degrees are not relevant. The report’s findings have been described as a “wake up call” for ministers keen to increase the number of young people going into higher education.
The report criticized the assumption that increasing the number of graduates in the job market would improve the national economy. A spokesperson for the CIPD said that not only was it not the case that more skilled graduates would lead to a higher-skilled economy, but that the trend was damaging the economy. They pointed to the fact that many employers now request applicants with degree for jobs which do not require one, meaning that young people are forced into debt paying for degrees that should not be necessary. The CIPD called for a national debate as to how to generate higher skilled jobs, and how to undermine the notion that a degree is always the best way to go for young people.
The human resources specialists said that the government needed to help graduates make better use of their skills, and warned that university degrees could be ‘worthless’ for many graduates. They also said that the government needed to do more to make alternative options to higher education more attractive to young people. Encouraging young people to consider apprentices instead of embarking on university courses was a key message. The CIPD concluded that a better range of options needed to be made available to young people in order to ensure that they have the right skills necessary to thrive in the current job market.