“Analysis of official data by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) showed there were 707,000 people with a university degree at the end of last year who were out of work and claiming one or more benefits.
This is up 46pc compared with pre-lockdown levels in 2019 and has been driven by a doubling in the number of graduates who claim they cannot work because of a health condition.”
That can’t be cheap.
NotoriousP_U_G on
It would be interesting to see based on institution and degree.
For instance, if you are studying philosophy at a very low ranked university, I am not sure it is worth studying, it is unlikely to lead to a job relevant to the degree
Dry_Yam_4597 on
Oh yeah the cretins who keep raising taxes are gonna raise them even harder.
Weak-Fly-6540 on
Since The Telegraph did not include some wider context, here’s a recent FT report on the gradute unemployment crisis.
“Chong’s experience will feel familiar to many new graduates whose prospects are blighted by the harsh reality of today’s jobs market, where global hiring remains 20 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, job switching is at a 10-year low and AI is disrupting how we work, according to a LinkedIn report.
In the UK, employers facing cost pressures and economic uncertainty are holding back recruiting or outsourcing jobs traditionally done by juniors. In a poll by the Institute of Student Employers, hiring was reduced by 8 per cent in the last academic year and there were 140 applications for each vacancy among those surveyed for a second consecutive year, up from 86 per vacancy in 2022-23. Those that are hiring are able to choose from more experienced candidates.”
The thing is a lot of students go to cities for uni, but then return home after graduating, and in a lot of areas there isnt much work.
Flimsy_Fisherman_862 on
I got stuck on job hunting after graduating. Anything relevant to my degree wound up turning me down for lack of experience, even got exploited to do free work by a company just to bulk up my CV. And all minimum wage jobs turned me down for being over-experienced. I’m not shocked that this figure keeps rising. Definitely feels like colleges will just shove you to apply to a university instead of searching for other career options that will benefit young people.
SnooAvocados7296 on
Wait until you hear about what’s happening with medical students graduating in this country. They’re about to join the pool of benefits seekers in vast sums. The previous Government has flooded hospitals and GP practices with 10s of thousands of doctors from abroad, to the point that they are competing in droves for the same training spots for specialties on an equal footing. No other country has such leniency for international medical graduates, and for the last few years this meant local UK graduates have had difficulty finding training in their own country. This problem has exponentially worsened. Luckily, the current Govt are seeking to pass emergency legislation to prioritise local medical graduates for these jobs but are facing intense pushback from these international graduates who feel entitled to the available UK training positions. Scandalous in my opinion. The bill is to be discussed tomorrow in parliament.
urbanspaceman85 on
I have a Bachelors AND a Masters degree. The jobs market has been a complete disgrace for 15 years now.
Electrical_Wall8926 on
I know some of these will be due to change in family circumstances rather than inability to get a job, as a friend of mine is stuck being a carer for one of their parents.
Odd-Law-8723 on
It’s a brutal catch-22 for graduates right now. You’re either told you don’t have enough experience for a proper career start, or you’re seen as a flight risk for entry-level jobs. No wonder so many are getting pushed into the benefits system through sheer exhaustion and health issues.
Why_you_so_wrong_ on
At what point does the government take a hard look at the higher education sector and admit not everybody needs or should have a degree. Closing down the dozens of degree mill ‘universities’ will add some value to a degree again.
Ron-Lim on
It will only get worse with automation and AI. There are going to be a lot of qualified people who never have a career. The population will have to shrink significantly. I have a manufactured war or virus will do the trick
magrandan on
My company (big 4) has just put out we will be hiring 400 graduates this year for internships- down from 2100 in 2023.
TheCharalampos on
Well companies Could get up their ass and actually hire people but nah turns out everyone being understaffed all the time does great things for the stock market price.
markymark71190 on
I’m genuinely flabergassed the amount of hours some people are quoting here – Between lectures, tutorials and labs – I was on 30-35 a week, not including assignments in that either. I found that hard at times , then when I started a PhD after, it was a head and shoulders above that again
gaussianlemon on
Welcome to the current job market. I fear it’s only downhill from here for a while
Fantastic_Bed_6378 on
A little bit of a misleading headline because that’s anyone with a degree claiming any kind of benefit including a 50 year old who graduated almost 3 decades ago
doitnowinaminute on
I’ve skimmed the actual report and can’t find where they got 700,000 from … Anyone had more luck ?
AlternativeCake4540 on
University grad here, top of my class software engineering degree, disabled ( blue badge) and autistic.
Can’t find a job that will put accommodations in place I need. Simple as that. Iv tried everything.
Who wants a disabled grad in a grad scheme when there are so many who aren’t disabled needing jobs
_tolm_ on
Be interesting to know how that breaks down across different degree subjects.
EgoCity on
So wages are low and they need topping up by the government?
LazyGit on
Right so that’s 700k not working and claiming one or more ‘benefits’. 200k not working because of health. So that’s 500k out of 16M, or 3% of graduates between the age of 21 and 121 are not working and claiming some sort of benefit. So a lower unemployment rate than the national figure of 5%.
I wonder why they didn’t lead with ‘Unemployment rate considerably lower for graduates’.
ArrestedPeanut on
I had a lovely role in IT in private schools, felt secure and supported.
Then the fees changed and my job disappeared. Couldn’t get another IT job because of sector issues (despite ~10 years experience).
Now I’m training as a computing teacher, but the barriers I’ve had to surmount are making me convinced the government just hate this generation and want us to fail.
CrazyGazpacho on
Remember when Blair wanted 50% of us to go to uni? Remember when people questioned whether we really needed that many graduates? Well here we are 20 years later, with a shortage of skilled tradesmen and a glut of useless graduates. Who knew!
Thinking caps on, guys. What can we do to make sure this massive increase in graduates isn’t just a huge over-supply? Add a few million immigrants! Great idea!
Absolutely no thought went into the structural challenges these decisions brought upon us 20 years later. We’ve got decades of funding millions of economically useless people now. Well done us
Brilliant-Army6857 on
It’s so difficult to hold a full time job while having health issues, I got lucky with a job vaguely related to my degree (I mean not really but it’s a lab job and i did a science degree so it’s close enough) and I genuinely don’t know how I’ve managed it for so long. It’s so difficult to access healthcare when you’re not available during normal working hours and the stress of the job exasperates things so I can’t really blame people for not being able to work.
lawlesslawboy on
this title is… seems like it’s trying to blame Grads when it should be “grads struggle to find graduate jobs increasingly in the past 10 years. partly bc boomers are hoarding the jobs n refusing to retire!!”
Ok-Sorbet-5506 on
Funny old world isn’t it. Allowing the working class to finally reach the potential that their middle class counterparts had available to them was a great success, this is the ruling class ensuring that those opportunities mean nothing. In the eyes of the people in power, this is a success.
Wizard_Tea on
I have one friend with a masters degree who has never had a job.
Another has a PhD and works in a shop.
This country comes at things rather from : “how can we utilise this highly educated workforce”
It’s instead that some owner with no education themselves says : “how does this fucker make me any money?”
Gold-Reality-1988 on
The number of unemployed in the UK is 1.83 million. Only approx 240 thousand don’t work due to health conditions.
FatFarter69 on
I’m 23, I didn’t go to uni. I know plenty of people my age who did who are now working in entry level minimum wage jobs (if they are working at all).
In hindsight I’m really glad I didn’t go uni because it seems kind of pointless if I was just going end up right where I am now anyway.
BestSatisfaction1219 on
Not my bloody fault 80% of job listings are fake and compared to someone who didn’t go to university who went straight into work I’ve got less experience and I’m overqualified.
Can’t get an apprenticeship as employers almost always want a young starter for many obvious reasons.
Graduating during covid is a silent handicap as the job market was EVEN WORSE than it is now.
It feels like a perfect storm for being undesirable to employers.
Then of course Universal Credit is a trap within itself. I barely get enough money to get by each month meaning I can’t save for anything. I can’t afford a professional qualification and to be honest I’ve been depressed for the past few years and struggling to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Then of course I’m locked into a student tax now so if I do work my arse off doing overtime in dead end jobs I get taxed for it as I know I’ll never be able to afford to pay off my student loans.
WoodsGameStudios on
Almost like our job market is overpopulated… say how much was the net migration 2020-2025? 2.8 million?
32 Comments
“Analysis of official data by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) showed there were 707,000 people with a university degree at the end of last year who were out of work and claiming one or more benefits.
This is up 46pc compared with pre-lockdown levels in 2019 and has been driven by a doubling in the number of graduates who claim they cannot work because of a health condition.”
That can’t be cheap.
It would be interesting to see based on institution and degree.
For instance, if you are studying philosophy at a very low ranked university, I am not sure it is worth studying, it is unlikely to lead to a job relevant to the degree
Oh yeah the cretins who keep raising taxes are gonna raise them even harder.
Since The Telegraph did not include some wider context, here’s a recent FT report on the gradute unemployment crisis.
“Chong’s experience will feel familiar to many new graduates whose prospects are blighted by the harsh reality of today’s jobs market, where global hiring remains 20 per cent below pre-pandemic levels, job switching is at a 10-year low and AI is disrupting how we work, according to a LinkedIn report.
In the UK, employers facing cost pressures and economic uncertainty are holding back recruiting or outsourcing jobs traditionally done by juniors. In a poll by the Institute of Student Employers, hiring was reduced by 8 per cent in the last academic year and there were 140 applications for each vacancy among those surveyed for a second consecutive year, up from 86 per vacancy in 2022-23. Those that are hiring are able to choose from more experienced candidates.”
[https://archive.is/kb5tW](https://archive.is/kb5tW)
The thing is a lot of students go to cities for uni, but then return home after graduating, and in a lot of areas there isnt much work.
I got stuck on job hunting after graduating. Anything relevant to my degree wound up turning me down for lack of experience, even got exploited to do free work by a company just to bulk up my CV. And all minimum wage jobs turned me down for being over-experienced. I’m not shocked that this figure keeps rising. Definitely feels like colleges will just shove you to apply to a university instead of searching for other career options that will benefit young people.
Wait until you hear about what’s happening with medical students graduating in this country. They’re about to join the pool of benefits seekers in vast sums. The previous Government has flooded hospitals and GP practices with 10s of thousands of doctors from abroad, to the point that they are competing in droves for the same training spots for specialties on an equal footing. No other country has such leniency for international medical graduates, and for the last few years this meant local UK graduates have had difficulty finding training in their own country. This problem has exponentially worsened. Luckily, the current Govt are seeking to pass emergency legislation to prioritise local medical graduates for these jobs but are facing intense pushback from these international graduates who feel entitled to the available UK training positions. Scandalous in my opinion. The bill is to be discussed tomorrow in parliament.
I have a Bachelors AND a Masters degree. The jobs market has been a complete disgrace for 15 years now.
I know some of these will be due to change in family circumstances rather than inability to get a job, as a friend of mine is stuck being a carer for one of their parents.
It’s a brutal catch-22 for graduates right now. You’re either told you don’t have enough experience for a proper career start, or you’re seen as a flight risk for entry-level jobs. No wonder so many are getting pushed into the benefits system through sheer exhaustion and health issues.
At what point does the government take a hard look at the higher education sector and admit not everybody needs or should have a degree. Closing down the dozens of degree mill ‘universities’ will add some value to a degree again.
It will only get worse with automation and AI. There are going to be a lot of qualified people who never have a career. The population will have to shrink significantly. I have a manufactured war or virus will do the trick
My company (big 4) has just put out we will be hiring 400 graduates this year for internships- down from 2100 in 2023.
Well companies Could get up their ass and actually hire people but nah turns out everyone being understaffed all the time does great things for the stock market price.
I’m genuinely flabergassed the amount of hours some people are quoting here – Between lectures, tutorials and labs – I was on 30-35 a week, not including assignments in that either. I found that hard at times , then when I started a PhD after, it was a head and shoulders above that again
Welcome to the current job market. I fear it’s only downhill from here for a while
A little bit of a misleading headline because that’s anyone with a degree claiming any kind of benefit including a 50 year old who graduated almost 3 decades ago
I’ve skimmed the actual report and can’t find where they got 700,000 from … Anyone had more luck ?
University grad here, top of my class software engineering degree, disabled ( blue badge) and autistic.
Can’t find a job that will put accommodations in place I need. Simple as that. Iv tried everything.
Who wants a disabled grad in a grad scheme when there are so many who aren’t disabled needing jobs
Be interesting to know how that breaks down across different degree subjects.
So wages are low and they need topping up by the government?
Right so that’s 700k not working and claiming one or more ‘benefits’. 200k not working because of health. So that’s 500k out of 16M, or 3% of graduates between the age of 21 and 121 are not working and claiming some sort of benefit. So a lower unemployment rate than the national figure of 5%.
I wonder why they didn’t lead with ‘Unemployment rate considerably lower for graduates’.
I had a lovely role in IT in private schools, felt secure and supported.
Then the fees changed and my job disappeared. Couldn’t get another IT job because of sector issues (despite ~10 years experience).
Now I’m training as a computing teacher, but the barriers I’ve had to surmount are making me convinced the government just hate this generation and want us to fail.
Remember when Blair wanted 50% of us to go to uni? Remember when people questioned whether we really needed that many graduates? Well here we are 20 years later, with a shortage of skilled tradesmen and a glut of useless graduates. Who knew!
Thinking caps on, guys. What can we do to make sure this massive increase in graduates isn’t just a huge over-supply? Add a few million immigrants! Great idea!
Absolutely no thought went into the structural challenges these decisions brought upon us 20 years later. We’ve got decades of funding millions of economically useless people now. Well done us
It’s so difficult to hold a full time job while having health issues, I got lucky with a job vaguely related to my degree (I mean not really but it’s a lab job and i did a science degree so it’s close enough) and I genuinely don’t know how I’ve managed it for so long. It’s so difficult to access healthcare when you’re not available during normal working hours and the stress of the job exasperates things so I can’t really blame people for not being able to work.
this title is… seems like it’s trying to blame Grads when it should be “grads struggle to find graduate jobs increasingly in the past 10 years. partly bc boomers are hoarding the jobs n refusing to retire!!”
Funny old world isn’t it. Allowing the working class to finally reach the potential that their middle class counterparts had available to them was a great success, this is the ruling class ensuring that those opportunities mean nothing. In the eyes of the people in power, this is a success.
I have one friend with a masters degree who has never had a job.
Another has a PhD and works in a shop.
This country comes at things rather from : “how can we utilise this highly educated workforce”
It’s instead that some owner with no education themselves says : “how does this fucker make me any money?”
The number of unemployed in the UK is 1.83 million. Only approx 240 thousand don’t work due to health conditions.
I’m 23, I didn’t go to uni. I know plenty of people my age who did who are now working in entry level minimum wage jobs (if they are working at all).
In hindsight I’m really glad I didn’t go uni because it seems kind of pointless if I was just going end up right where I am now anyway.
Not my bloody fault 80% of job listings are fake and compared to someone who didn’t go to university who went straight into work I’ve got less experience and I’m overqualified.
Can’t get an apprenticeship as employers almost always want a young starter for many obvious reasons.
Graduating during covid is a silent handicap as the job market was EVEN WORSE than it is now.
It feels like a perfect storm for being undesirable to employers.
Then of course Universal Credit is a trap within itself. I barely get enough money to get by each month meaning I can’t save for anything. I can’t afford a professional qualification and to be honest I’ve been depressed for the past few years and struggling to see a light at the end of the tunnel.
Then of course I’m locked into a student tax now so if I do work my arse off doing overtime in dead end jobs I get taxed for it as I know I’ll never be able to afford to pay off my student loans.
Almost like our job market is overpopulated… say how much was the net migration 2020-2025? 2.8 million?