Can Things Only Get Better? The Futuretrack Survey

Following on from the broad brush but optimistic approach of the last couple of posts the Futuretrack survey reported in "Graduate Market Trends" offers some contrasting insights as it studies the development of a group of students who started University in 2006.  In other words, most of them graduated at the time when graduate unemployment was at its highest (8.9%).

Unenployment and Under-Employment

Over 30% of those studied were still in what is classed as non-graduate level employment by the time of the latest survey in February 2012, although with considerable variations according to degree subject.  Looking on the negative side men, those aged 21-25 on applying to University (interestingly) and those from ethnic minority groups were found to be at most risk of unemployment after graduation, whereas (unsurprisingly) graduates achieving First Class Honours were much less likely to be on the dole.

There are also clear suggestions that those students who got involved in extra curricular activities, and especially those who held roles as a student representative or official were more likely to be in 'graduate level' jobs by 2012.  The interesting point here is that first generation graduates from poorer backgrounds are far less likely to have found the opportunity to take on this kind of function.  The same group are also more likely to be put off considering postgraduate study, which the survey finds has become less popular following the introduction of tuition fees.

Job Satisfaction

One of the tables in the Stage 4 Futuretrack report provides an insight into the degree-related skills used by graduates in their current job.  This is a subjective measure but suggests that the - by employers - much vaunted skills of spoken communication, teamwork and time management came out bottom, whereas the more academic sounding skills of research and critical evaluation made up the top two.  It would be fascinating to compare this finding with the original adverts for the jobs these graduates were actually doing at the time!

As well as providing some of the highest levels of graduate employment, students of engineering technologies and subjects related to medicine also recorded the highest levels of job satisfaction in their current roles.  bottom of the pile were architecture, building and planning with creative arts and design - so perhaps it's only two cheers for hopes of creative satisfaction in the longer term.

From Futuretrack Stage 4 Report p. 92

Gender

It's also only two cheers for gender equality as research into the respective earnings of men and women show that they remain strikingly uneven, in that women were much more strongly represented than men in the £15 - £24,000 range. Men were far more likely to be earning more, even though there was no substantial gender difference in the UCAS points held by those surveyed.

Almost 40 years after the introduction of the Sex Discrimination Act, there were only two silver linings for women in the research:

• In the not-for-profit sector alone, reported salary levels were roughly equal with those earned by men.
• The minority of women who were earning salaries of £40,000 plus actually recorded higher levels of job satisfaction than their male counterparts.

But the researchers reserved their most forthright comments on the subject for the Law sector: "Compared with the Education sector, female law graduates seeking a professional career should be aware that the profession remains some forty years behind the times with respect to the elimination of gendered career paths."

Strong words indeed!

But Are Things Getting Better?..

The work of Futuretrack shows some aspects of individual choice (degree subject, extra-curricular activity) that can affect future job prospects but you cannot unfortunately choose the year you graduate.

Since 2009, prospects for graduates have been getting better and more recently Careers Advisers are noticing an increasing number of vacancies, for example coming in to the University of Cumbria Jobshop

Even the public sector is starting to recover, with evidence of increasing numbers of vacancies for newly-qualified teachers and something of a shortage of qualified nurses.

What Do Graduates Do?

The 2009-10 version of "What Do Graduates Do?", produced annually by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) based on annual graduate destination surveys has recently become available. It shows some interesting trends in graduate employment as it follows nuances of the economic downturn.

While large numbers 2008 - 09 graduates entered the public sector in preference to previously glamorous opportunities in banking and finance, the trend was reversed in 2009-10 as public expenditure cutbacks started to bite. The financial services sector recovered to 2008 levels with some quite spectacular rises in specific areas, including a 45.9% rise in financial analysts and an 81% rise in personnel and recruitment consultants/advisers.

On the public sector side, the numbers of graduates becoming nurses and teachers did not fall markedly, but there was a general decline in administrative posts in public administration and defence, and there were considerable reductions in the numbers of social workers and physiotherapists recruited.

Overall, the private sector comeback lead to a slight decrease in the level of graduate unemployment (down to 8.5%) although there was little rise in the level of salaries offered.

This is a national survey which doesn't necessarily reflect local trends, but it is interesting to note that the University of Cumbria Jobshop has been receiving large numbers of vacancies for recruitment consultants over the past year. Other frequently advertised opportunities have included information technology, marketing and sales jobs.

For a more detailed look at the current employment situation as perceived by University Careers Services, see www.agcas.org.uk/articles/462-Mixed-picture-on-graduate-jobs-front-HE-careers-services

Youth Unemployment: A Student’s Perspective

an article provided by Sam Curran, an Education Student at our Lancaster Campus

If you have wandered round a nondescript town centre dispensing as many CVs as you possibly can (for no reward) or looked on the Job Centre Plus site every day or even been forced to claim benefits then you will know all about the effects of recession. Whilst media coverage tends to focus on redundancy and lack of jobs for middle aged people it is actually the younger generation, those who are in-between the ages of 18-25 that are suffering the most.

Youth unemployment is at a record high and the number of people claiming Job Seekers Allowance (JSA) has risen by an incredible 100 per cent in some areas of the country. According to recent statistics the worst hit area is the North East (where I’m originally from) where the benefits claims of 18-25 year olds has risen a staggering 43 percent in the last year. Interestingly in the more affluent South East benefit applications have dropped 5.9 per cent. The situation is further compounded by the obvious fact that the government has to make cuts to try and stimulate economic growth and many benefits claims will either be rejected or reduced. How on earth will this benefit people of my generation?

However the effect of youth unemployment cannot just be gauged by simple statistics (although on average benefits applications have increased by 8 % across the UK in the last year), the effects seem even more pronounced when you look at each individual case. Take my situation for my example:

I’m an 18 year old student studying secondary teaching with maths at the Lancaster Campus at the University of Cumbria. In three years’ time I will graduate from my degree and have £25,000 debt to contend with. Will I have any kind of savings to fall back on whilst paying this debt? Not in the current economic climate I won’t. For the past two months I have been searching (fruitlessly) for a part-time job to boost my savings. I have put in over 200 job applications, given out so many CVs I must have covered every shop in the town centre twice and searched on the net for job vacancies and what do I have for my efforts…….. absolutely nothing! Most firms can’t even be bothered to reply and the ones that do trot out the vague phrase: “good candidate, but not enough retail experience”. How much experience do they want?!? For the record, I have had a proper temp job in the past and gone in every Saturday religiously to volunteer at Oxfam in my home town of Darlington. The fact is there is very little chance to get retail experience these days.

Perhaps I’m one of the lucky ones though. I have a loan to cover my living and tuition fee costs but what about when I leave Uni? £25,000 worth of debt and nothing to fall back on. What do I do then? Withdraw from the bank of Mum and Dad? Take out an overdraft? None of the options are desirable, especially when it is even harder to get a foot on the property market these days so it would seem I will be consigned to renting a house for the next decade with no realistic hope of actually ever owning my own house.

Some might say that I’ll be fine: I’ll be earning more than enough as a teacher and they are “paid far too much” anyway. Realistically though the starting wage of a teacher is £20,000 which sounds a lot but looks a lot less impressive when you take away bills and paying off my student loan. The fact is not getting a job now will harm me in the long term.

Some suggestions have been mooted by the government: they plan to make anyone unemployed carry out a six month “community work programme” for 30 hours each week. It is compulsory: anyone who refuses will have their benefits taken away. This would not solve the problem though: in fact it could exacerbate it if some people refuse to carry out these work placements.

So it seems I and a number of people of similar age are consigned to a period of unemployment and no chance of earning some extra cash. I’ve now got to the point where I’m doing surveys online to try and earn a little bit of money (although the most I can make is £40 per month). I’m also considering volunteering again at a charity shop although will that even look good on my CV to employers? In short, youth unemployment is a big problem and it doesn’t look like it is going away any time soon.

Education and Teaching News

Teach First

Teach First recruited 560 graduates last year making them the fourth largest graduate recruiter in the UK. Graduates are currently placed in schools in the East Midlands, London, the North West, the West Midlands and Yorkshire. Most placements are for secondary schools but there are some opportunities in the primary school sector. Places are expected to double by 2012, particularly in science, maths, ICT, design & technology, so that the programme will be available across England and Wales. More information from www.teachfirst.org.uk

Curriculum Changes and GTC scrapped

The introduction of the new Primary Curriculum and the new Diplomas in science, humanities and languages (both due in September 2011) have both been scrapped.

Also to be scrapped following the Government Review are two major national quangos, the General Teaching Council (GTC) for England and Wales and the Curriculum Development Agency. Other quangos are still under review.

Teacher Unemployment Rises

The number of teachers claiming Jobseeker’s Allowance climbed from 2,610 in July 2008 to 4,580 in July this year. The number of unemployed primary teachers has almost doubled over the two years.

But there are still plenty of vacancies for teachers in London and the South East as councils prepare for the impact of the 2008 “baby boom”.

Source: AGCAS Teaching and Related Professions Task Group