Jobs gloom for a third of recent graduates as they languish in posts that do not require degree

More than a third of recent graduates are unemployed or languishing in stop-gap jobs that do not need a degree, official figures show.

Students have been running up debts only to find themselves jobless or doing work for which they are over-qualified.

One in ten of last year’s graduates – 20,000 – are unemployed and more than a quarter are in dead-end jobs.

The figures, published yesterday by the Higher Education Statistics Agency, will raise serious concerns about the value of getting a degree at a time when tuition fees are to rise to £9,000 a year.

Researchers analysed the destinations of 213,390 full-time first degree graduates who left university last summer. Some 133,940 were in employment only – equivalent to nearly two thirds. This is up from 59 per cent the year before.

The remainder were unemployed, in full-time further study or a combination of further study and employment.

Just 56 per cent of those employed were in an ‘occupational job’. Some 17 per cent of graduates were in further study.

The average salary for last year’s graduates was £20,500, the figures show – just below the £21,000 threshold at which they will have to start repaying their tuition fee loan from next year.

Michael Ossei, personal finance expert at uSwitch.com, said the situation left potential students facing a dilemma. He said: ‘Going to university used to be the norm, but it is now becoming a catch-22.’

Universities minister David Willetts said: ‘The graduate jobs market is showing encouraging signs of improvement. However, graduates still need to work hard to maximise chances of success.’

Source: Kate Loveys, Dailymail.co.uk, Friday 1st July 2011