The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) recently published their research into the UK job market, declaring that over half of all jobs will be graduate-level positions by 2017. Over the next few years, the UK is to see a rather dramatic shift towards higher-level jobs, so that by 2017, 56% more jobs will demand university degrees and opportunities for those with no qualifications will fall by 12%. This growing demand for graduates will offer a rise in vacancies, particularly in areas such as engineering and marketing.
For those students reluctant to go to university following the government's decision to allow universities to charge up to ??9,000 for tuition fees, this is a welcome piece of good news offering, despite the debt, better prospects of obtaining a graduate job - certainly better than current chances.
The CBI's research also indicated trends of the traditional North-South divide, projecting it to continue to widen with the jobs requiring the highest skills to be most in demand in London and the South East, and least in the North East and West Midlands. This piece of information is perhaps unsurprising and reaffirms what we probably already would have expected, with so many graduates hoping to start a career in London with its higher wages and arguably better opportunities in many respects.
Manpower's Employment Outlook Survey declared, from asking 2000 employers for their recruitment plans, that smaller firms expect to create 8% more jobs in the third quarter of this year. "We're now seeing them build their workforce again and become an increasingly important source of job creation in the UK," Mark Cahill of Manpower asserted last week.
What all this could mean for recent graduates looking for work, then, is that small businesses could be the place to look - with a particular focus on London and the South East - and, in six years' time, in roles in fields such as engineering and marketing!
Louise, GRB Journalist
