Latest news : Grad unemployment 'highest for two decades'

Unemployment among university leavers has reached its highest level for seventeen years, according to new research.

Graduate unemployment has risen 1% over the last year, with 8.9% of university leavers in 2009 out of work, says the survey by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU ).

However, the rate of graduate unemployment is slowing down. Between 2008 and 2009, the unemployment rate grew 2.4%, which represents a small success to HECSU deputy research director Charlie Ball.

‘Graduate unemployment hasn’t risen as high as we feared and is some way off the levels of the last recession in 1992, when it reached 11.6%,’ he said.

‘Prospects for graduates in the short-term look brighter, with unemployment, as a result of the downturn, likely to have peaked and next year we expect to see a decline. However, with the anticipated public sector job cuts the future in the medium-term looks less clear.’

The hardest hit industry for graduates is the IT sector, with graduate unemployment standing at 16.3%. Other struggling industries include media studies, construction and engineering.

There are worries that graduate employment will take a further hit after the announcement of public sector cuts. This was one of the few industries to actually increase recruitment levels in 2009.

Many graduates are turning towards further study or training during the recession, with 15.4% of those surveyed opting to improve their skills rather than face unemployment.