First degrees : Overview

A small but encouraging turnaround in the graduate labour market but recovery is slow

The graduate labour market did improve in winter 2010/11 with the employment rate increasing, the unemployment rate decreasing and the number of graduates securing a graduate level job reaching a record high. But, the UK economy is still recovering from the recession which began in the second half of 2008. Graduates are still facing tough competition in the labour market and not just from their peers but also from recent year’s graduates still trying to enter into graduate level employment.

Whilst there were signs of growth in the business and financial services sector creating more opportunities for recent graduates, 2011's ongoing reduction in public sector employment is likely to affect graduates. However, there are indications that for the graduates of 2010, the impact on employment in the early stages of the government's cuts in public spending have been buffered by the increase in jobs in the business and financial services. Slow but sustained economic recovery should be mirrored by a slow but sustained recovery in graduate employment but developments over the next few months will need to be closely monitored.

What do graduates do? is a review of the outcomes of those who graduated in 2010. It is a snapshot of what graduates were doing in winter 2010/11 and therefore, it does not reflect the picture of the current graduate job market.