Nearly half of UK graduates fear they will be made redundant within their first year of work, a survey has found.
The latest UK Graduate Careers Survey of 16,357 graduates by research firm High Fliers found 48% of student job hunters were concerned they would be made redundant within their first 12 months in a job.
Just 36% of respondents believed they would find a job this summer after leaving university, while a third said they would accept any job offered because of the economic climate.
Martin Birchall, managing director of High Fliers, said the employment picture for graduates was bleak.
“Although many students began their job search earlier than usual and made an increased number of applications to employers, noticeably fewer have been successful in securing a graduate placement than last year,” he said.
“Students are all too aware that many employers have cut their graduate recruitment programmes or are delaying taking on trainees until the economic situation improves.”
Earlier this year, research found graduate recruitment had been reduced by almost one fifth at Britain’s 100 leading employers.
