Graduates: Employment

The department produces an annual publication that uses the Labour Force Survey and compares the employment rates of postgraduates, graduates and non-graduates. The publication can be accessed here: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/graduate-labour-markets#dataBlock-3450d11e-68f3-4f34-9284-4a9dd67e861a-tables.

The employment rates for graduates and non-graduates of working age (16 to 64) and for the young population (21 to 30) can be found in two of the tables provided in ‘Section 4. Employment rates time series (2007 – 2023)’ of the publication. These are highlighted below:

Employment rates by working age population for 16- to 64-year-olds: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/fast-track/8c070fb0-8bb7-4278-a65f-08dc7b21f080#:~:text=https%3A//explore%2Deducation%2Dstatistics.service.gov.uk/data%2Dtables/permalink/dcb4226c%2Dc97e%2D4908%2Dd8c5%2D08dd4a33315d.

Employment rates by young population for 21- to 30-year-olds: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/data-tables/permalink/a671ed04-c746-435a-6d61-08dd48e2728c.

The figures in the publication show that:

• Employment rates for young graduates are higher than those for working age non-graduates across all years of the time-series since 2007. The latest figures for 2023 show that employment rates for young graduates were 87.4% and were 68.7% for working age non graduates.
• The gap between employment rates for young graduates and working age non graduates has been growing recently, increasing from 16.0 percentage points in 2019 (pre-COVID pandemic) to 18.7 percentage points in 2023.
• Whilst employment rates have remained relatively stable for young graduates since 2019 (pre-COVID pandemic), employment rates have fallen by 3.2 percentage points for working age non graduates between 2019 and 2023.