By Jaimie Kaffash
30 October 2009
The spending squeeze will hit new graduates hard, a think-tank has claimed, as figures show that more than half of UK graduates start their careers in the public sector.
A Centre for Cities’ report, released today, shows that 52% of graduates’ first jobs are in the public sector. It attributes this partly to the high number of skilled jobs in medicine and education. But it adds that 41% of first degree graduates, which excludes teachers and doctors, start in public services – far higher than the national average of 27% of the overall workforce that works in the sector.
The report says that the majority of jobs created in cities in the past decade – 69% – were public sector positions . It also warns that up to 290,000 public sector positions in the UK could be lost by 2014. Tyne and Wear, Greater Birmingham and Leeds have been the worst affected areas according to the figures, with graduate unemployment in Tyne and Wear almost doubling over the past year.
Dermot Finch, chief executive of the Centre for Cities said that this shortfall had to be made up by businesses: ‘In a public spending squeeze, UK graduates will continue to find it tough to take their first step on the employment ladder. The public sector will not drive graduate jobs growth over the next decade. This means more private sector job opportunities will be needed to bridge the gap.’
Alex Flynn, press officer for the Public and Commercial Services union, said that the public sector needed to retain and recruit the best people. He told Public Finance: ‘As people have retired or moved on to other jobs, there have been recruitment freezes. The net effect of that is that the work remains but there are fewer people to deliver that work so services suffer. Constantly asking people to do more for less is not a solution.’
He also said that a grounding in the public sector is important for graduates and society as a whole. ‘The public sector ethos is vitally important. In certain jobs in which our members do, they are helping some of the most vulnerable members of society. It would be an eye-opener for some of the politicians who deride the public sector as being costly and cushy.’
The CBI reiterated its five-point plan for tackling youth unemployment, which called for a £25m fund to encourage firms to employ apprentices, greater help from universities to students hoping to set up their own businesses and more internships.
30 October 2009
The spending squeeze will hit new graduates hard, a think-tank has claimed, as figures show that more than half of UK graduates start their careers in the public sector.
A Centre for Cities’ report, released today, shows that 52% of graduates’ first jobs are in the public sector. It attributes this partly to the high number of skilled jobs in medicine and education. But it adds that 41% of first degree graduates, which excludes teachers and doctors, start in public services – far higher than the national average of 27% of the overall workforce that works in the sector.
The report says that the majority of jobs created in cities in the past decade – 69% – were public sector positions . It also warns that up to 290,000 public sector positions in the UK could be lost by 2014. Tyne and Wear, Greater Birmingham and Leeds have been the worst affected areas according to the figures, with graduate unemployment in Tyne and Wear almost doubling over the past year.
Dermot Finch, chief executive of the Centre for Cities said that this shortfall had to be made up by businesses: ‘In a public spending squeeze, UK graduates will continue to find it tough to take their first step on the employment ladder. The public sector will not drive graduate jobs growth over the next decade. This means more private sector job opportunities will be needed to bridge the gap.’
Alex Flynn, press officer for the Public and Commercial Services union, said that the public sector needed to retain and recruit the best people. He told Public Finance: ‘As people have retired or moved on to other jobs, there have been recruitment freezes. The net effect of that is that the work remains but there are fewer people to deliver that work so services suffer. Constantly asking people to do more for less is not a solution.’
He also said that a grounding in the public sector is important for graduates and society as a whole. ‘The public sector ethos is vitally important. In certain jobs in which our members do, they are helping some of the most vulnerable members of society. It would be an eye-opener for some of the politicians who deride the public sector as being costly and cushy.’
The CBI reiterated its five-point plan for tackling youth unemployment, which called for a £25m fund to encourage firms to employ apprentices, greater help from universities to students hoping to set up their own businesses and more internships.
