A ¡°challenging¡± graduate labour market in the UK could further erode trust in the higher education sector, with the ¡°bad times¡± showing little sign of ending.

Students who finished courses this year are facing some of the most precarious economic conditions in recent times, which has translated into a downturn in the employment market.

Research by hiring platform Indeed has found that graduate jobs are at their lowest since at least 2018 ¨C even including the pandemic, which made it harder for employers to assimilate new joiners. Figures are down 12 per cent year-on-year.

The graduate employment market has been dashed by the aftermath of Brexit, the pandemic, and recent hikes to national insurance contributions, said Dan Hawes, co-founder of the Graduate Recruitment Bureau, as well as the ¡°very sluggish economy¡± and ¡°almost recession¡± the UK is facing.

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While Hawes said there have been difficult periods before, ¡°normally there¡¯s a cycle where you have good times and bad times, but this bad period has gone on beyond the usual length of time¡±.

Politicians from Reform and the Conservatives are increasingly using a lack of graduate opportunities to take aim at higher education. Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch last week told the party¡¯s conference that thousands of young people leave university?with ¡°crippling loans and no real prospects¡±,?as she announced plans to cut the number of students going into higher education by 100,000 per year.

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Steven Jones, professor of higher education at the?University of Manchester, said that the difficulties come at an already ¡°challenging¡± time for the sector.

"Universities are doubling down on their ¡®employability¡¯ strategies, but it doesn¡¯t really matter how ¡®employable¡¯ we make our graduates if there aren't enough jobs for them to go into,¡± he said.

While universities are trying to respond to the changing graduate labour market, ¡°it¡¯s difficult for them to work collaboratively ¨C with one another, but also with providers of FE and apprenticeship routes?¨C when their main focus in a competitive market has to be on their own survival¡±, Jones added.

Universities have often benefited in the short term from sluggish labour markets, because it leads more people to consider higher education to boost their chances of getting a job. Many universities?were able to grow intakes during this recruitment cycle after record numbers applied.?

But Jones said the ¡°worry is that young people are entering university not because they¡¯ve found the right course and are hungry to learn, but because there isn¡¯t a viable alternative¡±.

¡°In the long run, that chips away at society¡¯s confidence in higher education,¡± Jones said.

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Paul Ashwin,?professor of higher education?at Lancaster University, said the problems questioned ¡°the wisdom of positioning a direct link between higher education and the labour market,¡± when ¡°higher education doesn¡¯t control the labour market¡±.

Successive governments have been keen to promote this rhetoric, but he said the labour conditions ¡°highlight the real danger of the universities signing up to this employability language, as if higher education does that directly, when it does it indirectly through the knowledge students access¡±.

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There needs to be a repositioning of the role of universities in this debate,?Ashwin argued. ¡°What universities do is they offer students and graduates ways of engaging with the world that allow them to make use of the knowledge they¡¯ve studied, to engage with the world in a new way. That does make them more employable, but it¡¯s more about that way of engaging the world that¡¯s important.¡±

He said there is a ¡°general disillusionment with higher education¡± currently from both those on the right and left, and said faith in universities is ¡°the lowest I¡¯ve seen¡± in his career.

Students are ¡°quite anxious¡± about the situation, the Graduate Recruitment Bureau¡¯s Hawes said and the graduate labour market has changed the role of the recruitment firm. ¡°We¡¯ve almost become a counselling service in some ways,¡± he said, expanding services to include graduate mentoring for those facing challenges in securing a job.

And?the job market difficulties extend beyond graduate jobs, Hawes said, with?internships and work experience placements becoming ¡°almost as competitive¡±?and increasingly important to employers when hiring.

¡°Just doing your degree is not enough¡­Students are starting their career in many ways the minute they set foot at university.¡±

However, there are some positives emerging, Hawes said. He believed that the impact of artificial intelligence on the current job market has been overblown. AI in the coming years may be used to automate admin tasks, but this could ¡°actually augment graduate jobs, because it puts a premium on an actual human with a brain to put it into practice¡±.

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¡°Employers will always want graduates in certain types of disciplines,¡± he said.

juliette.rowsell@timeshighereducation.com