Recession Resilience: Graduates Fare Better, but Inequalities Persist

Prospects at Jisc have analysed that during a recession, UK graduates were more resilient and adaptable. There was a swift bounce back in the graduate labour market after COVID-19 and only 4.2% of 2020 graduates were jobless after 15 months. At the time of graduation, there were still gaps since white first-class graduates were most likely to be in constant full-time employment.

Compared to the earlier cohort, 75% of working 2020 graduates were in professional jobs at the time. In this edition of "What Do Graduates Do?" most graduates wished to stop college due to the pandemic, even amidst severe restrictions. By June 2020, the employment opportunities peaked at 39% of pre-pandemic figures (ONS).

According to HESA’s Graduate Outcomes data, even with the unfavorable labour market conditions the graduates faced after graduating, HESA’s Graduate Outcomes data suggests that most of the 2020 graduates were either at work or at school 15 months after. Of these, only 9.3% people took up further studies of their own, in comparison to 80% of employed people (including 10.9% while working and studying). Such estimates are consistent with those that we can expect from a so-called ‘average’ year.

Fifteen months after graduation, 74% of working graduates had a professional-level job, and thus this graduation cohort was the most likely to get some employment than their peers a year earlier. The proportion was even higher for those who graduated from an on-the-job apprenticeship program as this percentage rose to 95%. Thus, very professional-level vacancies had higher entry rates as compared to the previous period.

The disease has cut deep into self-employment, but how the graduates responded shows that of the employed graduates, more than ten percent of them were either self-employed or actively pursuing self-employment..

The analysis submitted indicates that there are fissures in the employment experiences and that the graduate labour market is not a uniform population.

Fifteen months post-graduation, white graduates were already employed as compared to their black, Asian, and minority ethnic BAME counterparts. It was stated that 70% of the white graduates are already in regular employment while 74% in professional-level jobs.

First-class degree holders had a higher full-time employment rate of 72%, despite possessing a first-class degree which was lower than those with a 2:1 (67%) 2:2 (67%), or Third-Class degrees (69%). This is the case now even if the Institute of Student Businesses claims that there has been a trend of few employers applying degree thresholds to entry screenings.

This effectively captures the employability, adaptability, and resilience of the UK graduates and how fast the graduate labour market bounced back from the COVID-19 pandemic. Even during a global health crisis that paralysed the economy of the UK, most of the young graduates who had just completed their education were able to secure jobs, and good ones at that. There are no obliterations as most of the graduates, if not all, were able to find favorable jobs despite the recession expectations.

"The graduate labour market was by far the least impacted sector of the labour market during the recent recession." However, the recession emphasised the prejudice to those who have disadvantages. If we want to make sure that all sustaining graduates have the same chance at getting employment, regardless of their background or qualities, we have to put in more effort since we are already starting behind.