British graduates in
the year 2008 – where are they now, seven years later? The Higher Education
Funding Council for England (HEFCE) conducted a follow-up survey of 2008
graduates (The Telegraph, October 1,
2015). HEFCE collected employment progression figures 6 months after
graduation, and 40 months (about 3.5 years) after graduation.
HEFCE found that one
in five graduates (20%) who left university in the 2008 recession are now
working in non-professional roles, which meant that about 80% of graduates were
in professional roles. The 20% of graduates that were in non-professional jobs (that
did not require degrees), were mainly in administration, sales, or customer
service.
Figures revealed that
the professional employment rate improved over time, rising from 64.1% of
graduates in professional jobs 6 months after graduation (35.9% in
non-professional jobs) and 77.8% of graduates with professional jobs 40 months
after graduation (22.2% in non-professional jobs).
However, disadvantaged
students had lower professional employment rates, which persisted throughout
their early careers. For example 66% of disadvantaged students (male and
female) had professional employment 40 months after graduating (13% less than
the highest rates).
The Higher Education
Statistics Agency (HESA) reported that 33% of 2013/2014 graduates were in
non-professional roles 6 months after graduating, which is 3% lower rate than
the HEFCE figures.
But labour market
experts say caution should be used when defining ‘professional’ and
‘non-professional’ roles. Some say that the definitions are out-dated because
some jobs that did not require degrees could lead to the use of other skills
(such as entrepreneurial skills) and higher earnings. Or many non-professional
roles are ‘starter’ or ‘early career’ roles that may lead to professional
jobs.
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