By Jaimie Kaffash
1 November 2010
Public sector graduate recruitment has remained buoyant in the recession, but spending cuts could trigger a crisis in the next few years, a careers service study has shown.
The Higher Education Careers Service Unit published its report, What do graduates do?, today. It shows that the graduate cohort of 2009 has the highest unemployment rates for the past 17 years at 8.9%, as measured this January. This is not as bad as feared and unemployment is expected to have peaked, the report says.
The public sector has continued recruiting throughout the recession, the unit adds. The largest sector is health care, which recruits 14.8% of all graduates, up from last year’s 14.6%. Social care follows with 5.2%, an increase from 4.7% over the previous year.
Charlie Ball, deputy research director at the unit, told Public Finance: ‘We estimate a little over 40% of graduates start their careers in public sector roles. Probably the bulk of those are in professions – nursing, medicine, primary and secondary school teachers – and these frontline staff are not going to see a great deal of change in the jobs available.’
However, he added, many graduates start off in administrative roles in the public sector, where they gain experience and training that carry over into the private sector. ‘A lot of private sector employers benefit from taking public sector graduates who have been trained and got 18 months to two years’ experience,’ Ball said.
The spending cuts could increase graduate unemployment in future years, he warned. ‘There is the potential for a crisis, ‘ Ball said. ‘The bulk of the cuts will be graded in. It does mean a lot of the jobs that last year’s graduates went in to will not be there for the graduates of 2013/14.
‘But if the government is right and they get private sector jobs to replace these public sector ones, there will be little for graduates to be concerned about.’
