Graduates
are still more likely to get higher paid jobs that those without degrees,
according to a survey of 4,500 students from 38 universities.
The
findings of the research, from the Higher Education Careers Service Unit,
appear to contradict claims that graduates are flooding the labour market,
rendering many degrees useless.
Of
the 1995 graduates questioned from across the UK, three quarters had found
degree-related jobs, two-thirds of whom said that a degree had been a
prerequisite for their job.
The
research said 85 per cent of the graduates were ‘very’ or ‘reasonably’
satisfied with the way their career had developed.
Alan
Johnson, the higher education minister, said: “This report adds a nail to the
coffin of the doom merchants who insist that more graduates means worse.”
However,
the gap in pay between male and female graduates continues to grow, the
research shows.
Shortly
after graduating in 1995, men were earning around 10.5 per cent more than women
on average, a number that had risen to 19 per cent by 2003.
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