Nearly one in 10 new graduates 'unemployed'

University leavers are taking a growing share of jobs

Nearly one in 10 students were believed to be unemployed six months after graduating from UK universities in 2012, new statistics show.

Men were slightly more likely than women to be out of work, but their average pay was higher, says the Higher Education Statistics Agency (Hesa).

About 9% of those who had finished full-time degrees were out of work.

Nearly 11% of men were unemployed, compared with 7% of new female graduates.

Average wages for men was £21,000 a year, while for women it was £19,000.

And men were more likely to be earning more than £25,000.

Out of a total of more than 230,000 full-time graduates from 2011-12 whose destinations were known, 72% were working, or working and studying; 15% were studying and 9% were unemployed.

The Hesa figures are for UK and European Union students who studied at UK universities.

Customer services

Nearly two-thirds of those working in the UK were in professional roles, with the remaining third working in sectors that did not require a degree, according to Hesa.

Sales and customer service occupations accounted for 13% of all leavers who were in work - the largest group in the non-professional occupations.

More than 9,500 people were working in what Hesa describes as "elementary occupations", including roles such as office juniors, hospital porters, waiters and shelf-stackers.

Growing numbers of jobs in the UK now require a degree, studies suggest.

More than a quarter of jobs are now available only to graduates, according to a study by the Institute of Education in London.

In the mid-1980s, graduate jobs accounted for about one in 10 jobs.