More jobs than ever demand
a degree

It reveals that while a degree is becoming increasingly essential, there are fewer jobs available for which no qualifications are needed.

The latest Skills and Employment Survey, which polled more than 3,000 workers aged between 20 and 60, concludes that for the first time, there are more jobs that require a degree than no qualifications at all.

The six-yearly study, which was first published in 1986, looks at employment trends over time.

The new findings show that in 2012, just over one in four (26 per cent) of jobs required a degree, up from one in five (20 per cent) in 2006. And just under one in four (23 per cent) of roles require no qualifications, a fall from 28 per cent in 2006. “At no time in the 1986-2012 period have falls and rises of these magnitudes been recorded,” the study says.

It adds that the proportion of jobs for which intermediate qualifications are needed has “barely changed”.

Many of those surveyed argued that degrees are now vital for many jobs. Three-quarters of those who responded to the survey who said that new workers would need a degree to get the job also said that a degree was “essential” or “fairly necessary” to do the work.

The report also suggests that fewer graduates are now in jobs for which they are over-qualified.

The graduate over-qualification rate fell from 28 per cent to 22 per cent, the study says.

Professor Francis Green of the Institute of Education said: “Employers in Britain have been slow to take up the swathes of better qualified workers, but now they are starting to wake up to the use of graduate labour.”

A separate poll published yesterday by totaljobs.com found that 34 per cent of graduates have claimed jobseeker’s allowance since graduating from university.