Graduates rate job market in region as poor

It also shows graduates working in Yorkshire are less likely to be earning more than £25,000 a year than those who are now working elsewhere in the country.

A survey being launched today at Westminster has gauged the views of around 1,500 graduates who are either working or living in the region or attended one of Yorkshire’s universities.

The biggest concern raised by the report from the survey is the perception of the Yorkshire graduate labour market with more than 60 per cent of the respondents rating it as poor or very poor.

The survey also found that graduates now working outside of the region earn more and that there has been “worrying” decline in the number of people on internships.

It says that only three per cent of those who responded had been on internships this year.

It said this could be down to the Government not following the recommendation of the Wilson Review, published earlier this year, which called for public money to be spent ensuring all university students were placed in internship programmes to make them more employable.

The survey’s figures on graduate salaries show 22 per cent of respondents living outside Yorkshire earned more than £25,000 compared with 12 per cent of Yorkshire-based respondents. However, the report says these figures are “skewed” by London graduate salaries which are higher than the rest of the country.

The survey also shows the number of respondents earning more than £25,000 grows from just five per cent 12 months after graduation to 17 per cent three years after finishing university.

Graduates with a first-class degree are more likely to earn more than £25,000 with 25 per cent entering the job market on a salary above this compared with just seven per cent of those who got a 2:2, the survey says.

The survey has been carried out by Gradcore, which runs the Yorkshire Graduates recruitment website.

Its chief executive, Martin Edmondson, said: “The voice of graduates in this survey suggests that many are keen to stay and make their mark in the region, but that they find it hard to do so, which is a challenge to all of us who believe that graduates effectively used can drive growth in businesses and the economy.”