Graduate unemployment remains low over long term

By David Matthews. Almost nine out of ten graduates from the class of 2008-09 are in work, according to new data, and just over 3 per cent are unemployed. The statistics show that the graduates are fairing much better in the labour market than they were six months after leaving university. Surveyed half a year after graduating, 7.2 per cent of 2008-09 leavers were unemployed. But this proportion dropped to 3.2 per cent in the following three years, while the number in work rose from 73.4 per cent to 87.1 per cent, according to the Higher Education Statistics Authority’s longitudinal survey of graduate destinations. The number in further study fell from 14.6 per cent to 6.7 per cent. More...