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Finance 'double hit' for graduates

12:18am Tuesday 9th February 2010

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University graduates are suffering a "double hit" of increased tuition fees and a freeze in pay when they find a job, according to a new study.

Average graduate salaries are predicted to remain at £25,000 for the second year in a row in 2010, an "unprecedented" development, according to the Association of Graduate Recruiters.

Graduates of 2009 and 2010 will also be the first to pay top-up tuition fees for all three years of their degree, the employers group noted.

Carl Gilleard, the association's chief executive, said of the pay freeze: "This could not have come at a worse time for the current crop of graduates who are the first to enter the workplace with the daunting task of paying off three years of tuition fees ahead of them.

"Those with jobs in banking, finance and law will be somewhat cushioned from the impact but graduates starting out in the third and public sectors will really feel the pinch this year."

Research among more than 200 graduate recruiters, employing almost 20,000 graduates, showed that employers were predicting a 1.6% fall in vacancies this year, compared with cuts of 8.9% in 2009.

Just over half of organisations expected to have more job vacancies this year, although although almost a third will have fewer jobs.

The report said the graduate employment marker was starting to "normalise" and vacancies could increase by 2011.

Employers in banking and financial services were most optimistic about jobs, although increases were also predicted in oil companies and consulting. Cuts were forecast in the public sector and transport, with many employers blaming the recession.

Fewer employers expected to recruit overseas, while firms "strongly advised" graduates to take a temporary job, skills training or even unpaid work if they couldn't find employment, rather than continue with their studies or taking a gap year.

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