Number of jobless graduates rises

Graduate unemployment is rising for the first time in a decade, figures to be released today show.

The proportion of people out of work six months after completing their degree rose to 6.3 per cent from 5.5 per cent the previous year. The main factor behind the rise has been the decline of the information technology industry, the annual What Do Graduates Do? report reveals.

"We predicted last year that graduate unemployment had levelled out and was unlikely to dip any further," said Mike Hill of the Careers Service Unit (CSU), one of three co-authors of the report. "This current increase follows two years where graduate unemployment remained at an all-time low and is still a long way from the highs of 8.2 per cent five years ago and around 12 per cent a decade ago."

The report, published by the CSU, the Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services and the Universities and Colleges Admissions Service, concludes: "Much of the drop [in employment] was due to decreases in opportunities in finance, IT, engineering and technology services and management consultancy. London and the South-east, where many of the vacancies were concentrated, were the two hardest-hit regions.

"However, despite the economic and recruitment slowdown, the situation may not be as gloomy as first appears." Three-quarters of the 750 employers interviewed said they were experiencing difficulties in recruitment – although not all the jobs they were finding hard to fill were of graduate standard.The survey looked at 176,415 graduates who finished their degrees last year.