Gloomy outlook for new graduates in UK

Students believe they are heading for a gloomy future, with just a third expecting to find a graduate job after finishing university, research found yesterday.

With the effects of the recession still being felt, confidence in the graduate job market is at a 15-year low - almost half (45 per cent) of university leavers describing prospects for new graduates as "very limited", according to the UK Graduate Careers Survey 2010.

One in six final-year students say they would not have gone to university at all if they had realised how tough the jobs market would be.

The annual survey, conducted by market research company High Fliers Research, questioned more than 16,000 students from 30 UK universities who are due to graduate this summer.

The findings show that the "Class of 2010" expect to face scarce job prospects, lower salaries and bigger debts.

Just 36 per cent believe they will either start a graduate job or be looking for a graduate job after university - this is down from a high of 49 per cent in 1998.

More than a quarter (26 per cent) say they plan to continue their studies - the highest level seen since the survey was first conducted in 1995.

While others had plans to take voluntary or temporary work (eight per cent or go travelling (16 per cent), one in seven (14 per cent) have no plans for their immediate future.

High Fliers managing director Martin Birchall said: "Our latest survey shows that final-year students due to leave UK universities this summer are just as pessimistic about their employment prospects as those who graduated 12 months ago.

"The recession may be officially over, but with a record number of students due to complete degrees in the coming weeks and tens of thousands of last year's graduates still looking for work, there is widespread concern on campus that competition for graduate jobs has never been fiercer."

Fewer than one in six students who have applied for graduate positions say they are "very confident" of landing a firm job offer before they graduate, the survey shows.

Almost six in 10 (57 per cent) say they expect competition for jobs to be as tough this year as it was last year, with more than a third (34 per cent) believing that last year's graduates will snap up most of the jobs on offer.

Nearly four in 10 (38 per cent) final-year students said they wished they had started looking for a job sooner, with a similar proportion (37 per cent) worried about their chances of a successful career.

Some 36 per cent expect to start on a lower salary than they were hoping for, with three in 10 (32 per cent) feeling they will have to take any graduate job.

For the second year running, salary expectations have dropped, with students expecting to earn an average of £22,000 for their first job, 3.1 per cent less than in 2008. The survey also reveals differences between students taking various subjects.