Jobless graduates claiming benefits totals 700,000, report says
The number of unemployed graduates claiming benefits now totals 700,000, a new report has estimated, with blame being laid on the UK education system’s “obsession” with getting young people into university.
Fresh analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) has found the number of jobless graduates receiving welfare support was nearing three quarters of a million, based on benefits data from the Labour Force Survey.
Estimates showed that around 110,000 people with degrees under the age of 30 were claiming at least one benefit.
Meanwhile, nearly 240,000 people claiming benefits said they were off work due to sickness.
Sir Keir Starmer previously announced that the government would scrap a target to get half of young people to attend university, instead saying there would be a new ambition for two thirds of people to go to either university or take a ‘gold-standard’ apprenticeship by age 25.
But researchers at the CSJ have called for clearer targets on technical training, suggesting there were already “too many graduates” as 37 per cent of graduates were over-qualified for their jobs despite skills shortages in the areas such as construction.
Apprenticeship starts among under 19-year-olds had fallen by 40 per cent since 2014 despite higher level apprentices out-earning the average degree, according to analysts.
The CSJ suggested that half of university students would have been financially better off by taking a higher level apprenticeship and avoiding debt.
Jobless graduate report gets cross-party backing
A report on technical education published last month was backed by politicians from across the political spectrum, including Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, Reform UK’s Danny Kruger and former Conservative education secretary Lord Gove.
It called on the government to upgrade technical education by focusing it around industry and “labour market value”, to ensure training is “tailored regionally” and to make national standards clearer.
Daniel Lilley, senior researcher at the CSJ, said: “If we are serious about repairing broken Britain, we must give young people the opportunity to succeed and fuel key industries with the domestic skills they need to grow.
“Both will depend on ending the obsession with university and rewiring education to give technical learning the pride and place it deserves.”
Industry officials are waiting on the publication of a review led by former health secretary Alan Milburn on Neets, otherwise young people not in employment, education or training.
The review is expected to give rise to government policies on inactivity rates among young people.
At a post-Budget speech last year, Starmer said welfare reform would be one key area his government would focus on in delivering growth.