"This is the worst of both worlds - we are producing graduates but we can't find any work for them." This is according to HR strategist and writer Kevin J Ball in a thought-provoking blog post, in which he weighs up the UK graduate labour market that is now welcoming the class of 2010 to its already oversubscribed ranks.
Can the 'knowledge economy' flourish with fewer graduate jobs?
Ball argues that these harsh conditions may not be just a temporary consequence of the recession. Analysing the National Strategic Skills Audit - published earlier this year - he finds that UK employers aren't creating graduate jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the graduates being churned out by our universities.
According to Ball, this trend has serious implications for the UK's ability to effect its widely-touted transition into a 'knowledge economy' over the coming years. Ball writes:
'A passport to working for free'
Returning to the immediate plight of UK graduates, Ball concludes that faced with these unwelcoming conditions, "the answer for current graduates is clearly a re-definition of 'graduate work'."
Unfortunately for graduates (but arguably less so for employers), Ball believes that the result is a rising trend towards unpaid junior positions for new graduates.
However, there may not - as yet, at least - be a strong appetite among UK graduates for such roles. Personneltoday.com reported last week on data from the National Council for Work Experience (NCWE), which found that concerns about unpaid labour and lack of local opportunities are deterring graduates and students from seeking internships and summer placements.
Ball argues that these harsh conditions may not be just a temporary consequence of the recession. Analysing the National Strategic Skills Audit - published earlier this year - he finds that UK employers aren't creating graduate jobs in sufficient numbers to absorb the graduates being churned out by our universities.
According to Ball, this trend has serious implications for the UK's ability to effect its widely-touted transition into a 'knowledge economy' over the coming years. Ball writes:
One of the axioms of British thinking about its response to globalisation is that the knowledge economy is going to save us from the Brazilian/Russian/Indian/Chinese hordes who are going to run the world's economy in the future. [...] What price our knowledge economy now?This taps into the theme of concern over what technological, environmental and geopolitical change could mean for the world of work that is increasingly preoccupying leading HR bloggers here and in the US.
'A passport to working for free'
Returning to the immediate plight of UK graduates, Ball concludes that faced with these unwelcoming conditions, "the answer for current graduates is clearly a re-definition of 'graduate work'."
Unfortunately for graduates (but arguably less so for employers), Ball believes that the result is a rising trend towards unpaid junior positions for new graduates.
However, there may not - as yet, at least - be a strong appetite among UK graduates for such roles. Personneltoday.com reported last week on data from the National Council for Work Experience (NCWE), which found that concerns about unpaid labour and lack of local opportunities are deterring graduates and students from seeking internships and summer placements.
| Tweet |
|
| Permalink | Email this |
