Nearlyonein11graduatesareunemployedsixmonthsafterleavinguniversity—thehighestproportionfor17years,astudyrevealsrecently.
Risingnumbersaretakingjobsthatdonotrequiredegrees,includingaswaitersandcheckoutworkers,thesurveyofalmost225,000graduatesshows.
Thepoll,bytheHigherEducationCareersServicesUnitCharity,covered82%ofthosewhocompletedanundergraduatedegreelastsummerandliveintheUK.ThepollstersinterviewedthegraduatesinJanuary—sixmonthsaftertheyleftuniversity.Itcomesasminister'splantosubstantiallyincreasetheamountgraduatespayfortheirdegrees.
Thestudyfound8.9%ofgraduates,orjustover21,000,wereoutofajobaftersixmonths,aonepercentagepointriseonthepreviousyear.
Theproportionofuniversityleaverswithagraduate-leveljob—asdefinedbythegovernment—hasdropped3.3pointsto62.4%,thecharityfound.Theproportionworkinginretailandcateringroseby3.8pointsto14.4%—aboutoneinseven.
Themeanstartingsalaryforgraduateshasnotkeptpacewithinflationandisnow￡19,695—an￡18riseonlastyear,thesurveyfound.ThosewhohadstudiedChinesehadthehigheststartingsalaryat￡24,540ayear,whilefineartgraduatesstartedonthelowestwageat￡14,625.
Some59.2%ofthegraduateswereemployed,comparedwith61.4%thepreviousyear.Some15.4%werestudyingorintraining,upfrom14.1%.Afurther8%weretakingpostgraduatedegrees,down0.1%.
Thepublicsectorisoneof“veryfew”areasthathascontinuedtorecruitgraduatesintherecession,thecharitysaid,fuellingfearsasthesectorpreparestoshedhundredsofthousandsofroles.
Thegovernmentdescribesengineeringdegreesas“strategicallyimportant”fortheeconomy.But11.9%ofcivilengineeringgraduateswereoutofworksixmonthsaftertheygraduated,aswere11.8%ofmechanicalengineeringgraduates.Geographyandpsychologygraduateswereleastlikelytobeunemployed.Some7.4%and8.3%wereoutofajobrespectively.
CharlieBall,thecharity'sdeputyresearchdirector,saidheexpectedemploymentratestorise,butadded:“Withtheanticipatedpublicsectorjobcuts,thefutureinthemedium-termlookslessclear.Itdependsonwhatthegovernmentdoesandhowtheprivatesectorreacts.Thiswilldeterminethingsforgraduatesforthenextthreetofouryears.”
Vocabulary:
checkout:theplacewhereyoupayforthethingsthatyouarebuyinginasupermarket（超级市场的）付款台，付款处
catering:theworkofprovidingfoodanddrinksformeetingsorsocialevents（会议或社交活动的）饮食服务，酒席承办
fineart:formsofart,especiallypainting,drawingandsculpture,thatarecreatedtobebeautifulratherthanuseful艺术（尤指绘画和雕塑）
Fromwww.hxen.com