Take low-skilled jobs, class of 2009 told• Employers survey shows major cuts in recruitment
• Vacancies in the City for leavers nose-dive by 28%
Polly Curtis, education editor
The Guardian, Wednesday 11 February 2009
Students are being urged to take lower-skilled jobs or do voluntary work when they graduate this summer, after a poll of employers revealed widespread cuts in graduate recruitment. Vacancies for graduates in the City alone nose-dived 28% in the past year, the survey found.
Leading companies from the banking, accountancy, construction and IT industries announced cuts to their graduate training positions for 2008, while across the board graduate pay has been frozen, the survey reported. In the worst hit industries starting salaries have been cut in an attempt to prevent further job losses.
Students graduating this year will be the most indebted ever, being the first to pay top-up fees of £3,000 a year throughout their degree courses as well as facing the biggest battle to enter the job market.
The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) polled 250 companies - including Barclays, Cadbury and Google - and found widespread cuts to the annual university "milk round". Nearly 65% of those firms who have cut recruitment blamed the impact of the credit crunch. In a sign of the speed at which the recession has set in, last summer employers were predicting a boom year, with an 11% increase in graduate vacancies. That has now slumped to a 5.4% decline across all sectors. .......(more)
The complete piece is at:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/feb/11/skilled-jobs-graduates-recession
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