The graduate crisis: hundreds of thousands sign on to welfare
The myth is surely shattered; university is not a springboard into the future and a degree does not guarantee you a job. New analysis reveals that over 700,000 university graduates are out of work and claiming benefits. The Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), which studied data from the Labour Force Survey and the Department for Work and Pensions, claims that graduate joblessness is significantly higher than previously thought.
The findings are stark. Of the more than 700,000 unemployed graduates, 400,000 are currently claiming Universal Credit while more than 100,000 are claiming at least one other benefit. Most shockingly, nearly a quarter of a million are out of work due to sickness.
The rate of increase is startling; the number of jobless grads claiming benefits has increased by 46 per cent since 2019 while the amount claiming sickness benefits has more than doubled since the year before the pandemic. One in three graduates cites poor health as a reason for not working. Looking beyond degree holders, there are now nearly a million people aged between 16 and 24 who aren’t in work, education or training.
The post-pandemic surge in the claimant numbers across the economy as a whole is a national emergency, but the CSJ analysis also reveals major problems with the UK’s approach to university education, warning that an increasing number of graduates are leaving education and entering the workforce without the skills required by today’s employers.
Graduate employment is collapsing
Despite a concerted political effort in recent years to promote apprenticeships, the CSJ’s research finds that for every three young Brits opting for a degree course just one enters vocational training. In the Netherlands this ration is two-to-one while in Germany it is one-to-one. Apprenticeship starts for those under 19 have slumped 40 per cent since 2015, despite the earnings premium that often follows such a route; the bottom quartile of graduates were found to earn £24,800 five years after completing their course, compared with £37,300 for a Level 4 apprentice.
Recruiters have been warning for months that the graduate employment is collapsing, but the conveyor belt does not appear to be slowing in any meaningful way, nor is there much evidence to suggest that universities are prioritising the skills that employers say they need, such as emotional intelligence, resilience, critical thinking and digital literacy.
Smart kids should find a way to acquire these attributes without taking on a mountain of debt, and smart parents should help them.