The number of graduate jobs in the United Kingdom (UK) has fallen nearly 50 per cent in the past one year, as employers cut entry-level roles in favour of AI and due to rising costs, according to a report by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), citing new figures.
On the contrary, graduate jobs expert Charlie Ball suggested that firms are advertising fewer roles specifically for graduates, even if the roles themselves still exist and end up being filled by graduates. As per the report, Jobs website Adzuna said it had just 8,383 graduate vacancies listed in July, down from 15,397 at the same point last year. The data also found that competition among job seekers across all levels is rising, with an average of 2.14 job seekers per vacancy in July, up from 1.93 a year earlier.
Speaking with BBC, businesses have said that employer national insurance and minimum wage hikes have made hiring more expensive, particularly for junior staff. Andrew Hunter, the co-founder of Adzuna, said that the figures show “employers still have not found a reason to open up hiring” for recent graduates. From his experience in the sector, Ball said that the graduate market has “not collapsed” but “is weak. “We know it’s not in great shape,” he added.
Former government minister Alan Milburn is leading a major review of the youth unemployment crisis, according to the report. He has previously said that the number of entry-level jobs is shrinking, as is the number of part-time jobs traditionally filled by teenagers and students, the report said. A government spokesperson said on Monday: “The latest figures show there are 253,000 more people in work than this time last year with unemployment continuing to fall.”
