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Graduate jobs: Job vacancies for graduates fall by a fifth

Submitted by WikiJob on 14 January 2009 - 3:52pm

Bad news for graduates. There's no more jobs.

Almost all the papers carried the same story today - there are 20% fewer graduate jobs available now than this time last year and there are 47% less jobs in investment banking than there were last year... ouch.

The Independent put it bluntly, reporting that:

"The biggest decline has been in investment banking, where jobs on offer have been reduced by 47 per cent year on year, while retailing is down 26 per cent and accountancy by 15 per cent. Over a two-year period the number of media jobs on offer has been cut by 32 per cent. The only employment area where graduate vacancies have increased noticeably are the public services – up 51 per cent over the past two years – and the armed services, which have seen a 17 per cent increase."

So you have two choices. Filing reports on pot holes for Kent County Council, or fighting for your life in Hellmand with prince Harry. Neither vacancy appeals really.

Reuters fed fuel to the fire, reporting "There is understandable panic on campus that this is shaping up to be one of the worst years of the last two decades to be graduating from university."

Panic? On campus? Are you sure?! Fires being lit and screams wailing out are they? Hmm... I'm pretty sure it was business as usual last weekend at UCL students union.

The Recruiter magazine suggests that "job vacancies for students graduating this summer (2009) have fallen by almost a fifth". This is according to a report by market research firm High Fliers, who are quoted as saying that "many employers started scaling back graduate recruitment plans a year ago, and half had downgraded their targets for this year."

The article goes on to say that:

"A survey of 100 companies showed City jobs such as those in investment banking were worst hit, while the main increases were in the public sector. Two out of three employers said they had received “significantly” more applications from graduates and many had already filled all their vacancies."

The article includes a quote from a spokesman for the Department of Innovation, Universities and Skills who says:

“Those going to university are investing in their future and will benefit over their lifetimes from higher education, particularly in years to come when there will be more highly skilled jobs, not less. “But we recognise that graduates are not immune from the effects of the economic downturn which is why we are developing real help and support with new forthcoming schemes such as a national internship programme backed by leading employers.”

Most dour of all of today's reports was a report in The Scotsman:

"Graduates will struggle to find jobs due to the current financial crisis,'''''hobbling Scotland's economy for an entire generation'''', it has been claimed."

Claimed by who?!

Ahh. Scottish pessimism! No wonder they chose to focus on the banking sector when describing the current graduate job market:

"In the banking sector, Northern Rock, which was nationalised last February, suspended its graduate scheme in 2007 and has no plans to reopen it. Royal Bank of Scotland will take on fewer than the 500 recruited last year, but would not give precise numbers. And HSBC, after announcing redundancies last year, will also be cutting its graduate intake to 242 from 289 last year – a drop of 16.2 per cent."

Over at camp Murdoch, the Times chose to use the graduate jobs "crisis" (gasp) to bad-mouth Labour, printing the title: "No jobs for Labour's graduates".

After all that bad news I did manage to find something more pleasing - a report from the BBC website that states: "Graduate job market stays strong". Sadly for you and I, this was dated August 8 2008, and as we all know a hell of a lot has happened since then (RIP Capitalism).