Chris Rea from Prospects will be presenting valuable insights into the graduate labour market, including some of the myths that surround university and graduate jobs, issues around graduate migration and social mobility, and regional trends for your area.

1. Engage – Recruit – Verify

4. What do graduates do?
Working full time
in the UK
55.2%
Working part
time in the UK
11.9%
Working overseas
1.8%
Working and
studying
5.4%
Further study
16.1%
Unemployed,
including those
due to start work
5.1%
Other
4.5%

5. Graduate labour market myth Number 1:
‘Everyone goes to university nowadays’

6. The reality
39% of the adult population (16-64) of the UK had
a degree at the end of 2018
44% of the UK workforce has a degree or
equivalent qualification
Less than half of students currently aged 14-18 will
ever go to university, and it’s unlikely we’ll ever see
a situation where half even of a given age group
goes to university.

7. Graduate labour market myth Number 2:
‘There are no jobs for graduates’

8. The reality
136,000 UK graduates from 2017 were known to
be in professional-level jobs six months after
graduating (74% of graduates)
Annual Population Survey data showed that at the
end of 2018, there were 14.8m people working in
professional-level jobs in the UK
Or 46% of the workforce
APS data also shows that the UK added 353,500
new professional-level jobs in 2018

9. Graduate mobility
Stayers: went away to university and liked it so
much they stayed there – 13%
Incomers: working in a region where they weren’t
brought up or went to university – 18%
Returners: went back to their home region after
going away to university – 24%
Loyals: born, brought up, educated and now
working in the same place – 45%

10. Graduate mobility
58% of graduates went to work in the region in
which they studied
69% went to work in the region in which they were
originally domiciled
Only 18% went to work in a region with which they
had no connection
This pattern is long-standing and mobility may
even be falling

11. Graduate mobility – Yorkshire and Humber
Loyals 46.2%
Stayers 20.2%
Returners 22.7%
Incomers 10.8%

12. Graduate mobility by participation
Highest-participation white males:
Loyals – 32.6%
Stayers – 27.1%
Incomers – 26.2%
Returners – 14.1%

13. Graduate mobility by participation
Lowest-participation BAME females:
Loyals – 51.6%
Stayers – 21.6%
Incomers – 13.9%
Returners – 12.9%

14. Where do graduates work?
• Westminster 6,080
• Birmingham 4,670
• Manchester 4,420
• City of London 4,065
• Greater London 3,840
• Leeds 3,625
• Camden 3,490
• Glasgow 3,370
• Surrey 3,180
• Hertfordshire 3,090
• Kent 3,035
• Hampshire 2,725
• Edinburgh 2,530
• Tower Hamlets 2,470
• Essex 2,465
• Lancashire 2,455
• Liverpool 2,445
• Bristol 2,390
• Belfast 2,385
• Southwark 2,295
• Oxfordshire 2,145
• Sheffield 2,145
• Cardiff 2,115
• Cambridgeshire 2,045
• Islington 1,985
• Newcastle 1,945
• Nottingham 1,790
• West Sussex 1,675
• Gloucestershire 1,610
• Leicester 1,545

15. Yorkshire and the Humber graduate labour
market
13,455 UK graduates secured employment in Yorkshire
and the Humber
69% originally domiciled in the region
7.3% from the North West
6.6% from the East Midlands.
66.5% worked in Yorkshire within six months of
graduation

16. Yorkshire and the Humber graduate labour
market
Average graduate starting salary £20,855 – £1,544 less
than UK average
Women earn average £1,119 less than men
37% of graduates working in business and finance work
in Leeds
28% were working for an SME

17. Top 10 professional-level jobs – Yorkshire
and Humber
Nurses
Medical practitioners
Primary and nursery education teaching professionals
Marketing associate professionals
Programmers and software development professionals
Business and related associate professionals
Welfare and housing associate professionals
Pharmacists
Legal associate professionals
Social workers

18. Hardest graduate jobs to fill – Yorkshire and
Humber
Nurses
Electrical engineers
Marketing associate professionals
Engineering professionals
Business sales executives
Business and financial project management professionals
Social workers
Welfare and housing associate professionals
IT operations technicians
Finance and investment analysts and advisers
Child and early years officers

19. The importance of SMEs
30% of graduates work for companies with fewer
than 250 employees (37% when hospitals are
removed), and one in six are with companies with
fewer than 50 employees
SMEs are especially important in telecoms, arts,
design, architecture, marketing/PR/advertising,
sport/fitness, law, web design

20. The importance of SMEs
In the Prospects Early Careers Survey 2018, of
those who expressed a preference for company
size, 77% preferred to work for an SME
‘In an entry-level job, a smaller employer provides
a more intimate learning experience and more
guidance’

21. General labour market shortages
‘Contacts reported shortages of engineers, care
workers, nurses, lorry drivers and experienced
candidates in professional and financial services.
Some employers said they planned to address
labour shortages by training apprentices and
graduates, though this was likely to drag on
productivity in the short term.’
Bank of England Agents’ Summary of Business
Conditions Q3 2019, September 2019

22. Net changes in UK occupational structure
2008-2018
527900
1420700
710900
-256000
-116700
430500
-12700
-37800
112900
-500000 0 500000 1000000 1500000 2000000
1: managers, directors and senior officials
2: professional occupations
3: associate prof & tech occupations
4: administrative and secretarial occupations
5: skilled trades occupations
6: caring, leisure and other service
occupations
7: sales and customer service occupations
8: process, plant and machine operatives
9: elementary occupations

23. Summary
Graduate labour market fundamentally sound,
long-term trend for expansion
Outcomes remain good, with low unemployment
A lot of misunderstandings about the extent and
nature of graduate employment
Significant increase in graduates taking Masters
on completing first degree
Little evidence of significant negative Brexit effect
on early graduate labour market at the moment

24. Summary
Graduate mobility seems to be falling
Skills shortages and recruitment difficulties
significant and worsening
Despite good labour market, graduate
underutilisation remains a serious issue
Not matching graduate supply and demand as a
nation very effectively