Good times for this year's graduates?
This year's graduates can look forward to a good start in the job market, according to research published yesterday.
The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) said that vacancies and salaries have increased for the second year running. Graduate vacancies rose 11.3% on last year, while the number of people applying for them fell from an average of 37.6 in 2003-4 to 32.9 in 2004-5.
The median starting salary for this year's graduates is £22,000, compared to £21,000 last year – the largest increase for more than five years and above the increase in the cost of living, meaning that graduates really are taking more home, at least until student loans are taken into account.
The most generous starting salaries were to be found in investment banking at £35,000, followed by consultancy and law. Salaries in these areas, however, have remained unchanged for three years.
London and the South East were as ever the homes of the top salaries – the lowest were to be found in Wales and Northern Ireland.
However, the statistics only refer to the 224 AGR members that replied, representing perhaps around 7% of the graduate market. In previous years, the public sector has lagged behind in its starting salaries, but this year they match the private sector median.
But while some may enjoy good starting salaries, others may not get jobs at all – the survey looks at employers rather than the destinations of students.
The Chartered Society of Physiotherapists said today that only a quarter of the 804 of this year's graduates who replied to its survey had found jobs. The organisation said that there were not too many physiotherapy graduates, and the government and NHS had paid to train them – rather, a failure in planning at a local level meant that not enough junior jobs were available.
Earlier this month the UK Graduate Careers Survey found that just 36% of this year's graduates expect to find jobs this autumn. There were an estimated 85,000 graduate-level jobs available for this year's leavers; the number of students graduating is around three times that number.
Related links
From The Rundown
Graduation special: A toast to champagneGraduation special: Faking the fizz
Send this article to a friend