Headlines
The Review Online
Education, Education, Education!
2nd February 2009
Fearing unemployment, unemployment, unemployment in the current economic downturn, the Government has signalled its intention to guarantee university graduates a place in an internship.
Whilst it may seem a drop in the ocean, as one million under-25s face unemployment in the next year, it is seen as being better than doing nothing. Four major firms, including Microsoft and Barclays Bank, have said they would take on some of the 300,000 graduates from British universities during the course of the coming year. The Government said that the graduates will be paid slightly higher than undergraduates’ incomes from loans and grants.
The hope is that for a three-month stretch, graduates will be kept out of unemployment until the economic situation improves whilst gaining practical skills and potentially a full-time job for the future.
There is evidence, however, that some large employers are scaling back their annual “milk round”, where firms search for potential employees on university campuses. Some graduates have found that employment opportunities at companies have been cancelled at the last minute and some employers are looking at just the top five universities for potential workers.
The hope now may be that more apprenticeships, like those advertised in the College bulletin last week, and more internships will be made available for college and university leavers. The reality may be far from this, however, as the demand for new staff has fallen at its fastest rate since 1997. Job vacancies also fell sharply. Poor employment figures came hot on the heels of unremarkable manufacturing data that showed manufacturing slumping at its fastest pace since 1981.