WHAT IS A GRADUATE JOB?

 

Answer: Any job that is done by a graduate.

For the diminishing, fortunate few, it's a training
post with a major organisation in the corporate
sector, or perhaps in legal or financial services.
But these areas, once providing the certainly of
a well-paid, long-term, career, are being
transformed by the dynamics of change,
technological and financial.

For the many, however, it means compromise,
graduates taking jobs for which they are
over-qualified: the barrister, new from Bar finals
with £50k of debt, working as a Barista at Costa
Coffee, the finance graduate
from one of the elite Russell Group universities,
employed in stock control, the English graduate
shelf-stacker, the list goes on. And the competition
gets stiffer. UK universities continue to churn out
increasing numbers of young hopefuls to meet
Tony Blair's absurd 50% target for young people
going to university. As W S Gilbert observed in
The Goldoliers, "When every one is somebody,
then no-one's anybody."

The graduate job market is predicted to remain
weak throughout 2013, with employers receiving
56 applicants for every job, up 7% on last year.
Some 58% of graduates are in low-skilled
employment, or not in work. This makes the
1.027m 16-24 year-olds on NEETS - not in
education, employment or training, even less
attractive to employers at the low end of the
market.

While much of the problem should be seen
within the context of the continuing recession,
the need for structural reforms is crucial.  Training
more scientists and technologists is key to our
economic survival. David Willetts, the minister
for universities and science has just announced
a £950m initiative to fund the technologies that
will drive growth and improve Britain's ability
to compete.

Of course, this is to be welcomed, but accelerating
the growth of manufacturing - about 11% of GDP
in the UK, compared with China's 32%, South
Korea's 25% and Germany's 21% will take time.
Major investment in science and advanced
manufacuring will create graduate jobs. Given
Britain's still prevalent culture of attaching more
prestige to the professions, rather than making
things, begs the question - will there be sufficient
home-grown science and technology graduates
to meet the demand?  Or, will the familiar pattern
of importing talent be repeated?  In the UK 45% of
all degrees are in science or engineering.This
compares with China, 95%, South Korea, 75%,
together with Austria and Finland, each with
around 60% and Germany with 45%.

Closing the gap between education and the
world of work is key to getting more graduates
into employment. It seems that linking academic
study with vocational training is now being given
more emphasis through advanced apprenticeships.
For too long a university education has been more
about the Enlightenment than creating the practical
wherewithal for our society to create the wealth
needed to provide for its citizens. This is a tall
order in Britain, Europe's most populous country.