Graduates face worst jobs market on record as vacancies plunge 45%

I understand that many 18-year-olds want that university experience, but do they really appreciate the cost that comes with it, and how long the debt they saddle themselves with will loom over them? Unless a degree is necessary for your dream job, seriously consider an apprenticeship if one is available. When your friends graduate, you will have had 3 years of work experience with salary and benefits to boot. Many employers would prefer that person over a newly qualified graduate.

The Starmer government raised the tax cost of doing business by £66bn across the 2024 and 2025 budgets, pushed the minimum wage to 66% of average graduate starting salaries, and layered on new employment regulations. It's no surprise graduate vacancies have dropped 45.6% as businesses adjust to survive. Add corporate efficiency drives and AI eating entry-level work, and you get a perfect storm for new graduates. University still makes sense for vocational routes like law and medicine, but everyone else needs practical experience, technical skills, and a strong network to stand out. Degree apprenticeships now look like the superior risk-adjusted path versus a traditional degree or unskilled work, combining paid experience with a degree, skipping the debt, and avoiding the brutal post-grad job hunt. Structured apprenticeships are becoming the smart early move.

These figures aren't really about graduates, they're about risk. Employers have always had the option to let an underperforming graduate go; stronger employment rights make that harder, so many are simply not hiring them at all. That won't help the graduates already job-hunting, but it should make anyone considering university pause.

Unless you're heading into law, medicine or another licensed profession, a degree shouldn't be the automatic default. Apprenticeships give young people real work experience, which is increasingly hard to come by, without the debt most graduates carry for life. Lower risk for the employer, lower risk for the young person too.

Whether University is worth it is not a binary yes or no. It really does depend.

I would encourage anyone considering University (and their parents), to think long and hard about the different options available. University is likely to be critical for some roles such as becoming a Doctor or a Vet, but I think there are often better routes into the vast majority of roles through school leavers programmes, college, apprenticeships or even just stepping straight into the world of work.

Although getting a degree demonstrates your ability to study and gives you a different life experience during your time at University, they often offer no real practical use or experience that employers are seeking. Combine this with the cost and significant debt students often end with and decreasing number of graduate opportunities, then I question the value of University for most people.

Gaining vocational qualifications and real life experience in work is often the better option!

A degree is no longer a ticket to jump the queue. Graduates are entering an incredibly tough market, where employers are increasingly looking for aptitude, practical skills and experience rather than simply a certificate.

University still has real value for the right career, but it should no longer be the automatic choice. For many young people, an apprenticeship or getting into work earlier can offer a head start, earning, learning and building the skills employers actually want.

These figures are worrying, but my sons’ experiences show there is no single graduate jobs market.

My youngest graduated last year and is still unable to secure a graduate position in ecology. My middle son qualified as a vet this summer and had a job waiting for him. Much depends on what someone studies and whether it leads into a defined profession with an established route into work.

University can still be worthwhile, but it should not be the automatic choice. Property and construction need surveyors, planners, skilled trades and environmental expertise. Ecology is increasingly relevant to development, yet graduates still need someone to give them experience on their first projects.

We need more high-quality, hands-on apprenticeships. Government should also consider reducing employment costs or offering targeted incentives to businesses that recruit and train graduates and apprentices.

The numbers are grim, but they don’t mean university is worthless. They mean the calculation has changed. A degree is no longer a golden ticket to a graduate job; it is one route among several, and often the slowest and most expensive. AI is an important part of the story. The research, drafting and data-crunching traditionally given to graduates is precisely the sort of work firms can increasingly automate. Higher employment costs and a weak economy add to the pressure. Young people should think about skills and experience, not simply credentials. A good apprenticeship offers earnings, qualifications and a track record from day one, without student debt and its 9% additional marginal repayment rate above the threshold. University remains essential for some careers and valuable for many others. But it should be a considered choice, not the default. Pick the route by the destination, not the tradition.

Everyone's arguing about whether a degree is worth it. That isn't the argument. Have a proper look at the number instead. 8,383 counts jobs with "graduate" stuck on the front. That's a big corporate thing. A scheme, an intake, a lanyard and a branded water bottle. The firms I look after don't run schemes. We advertise when we're drowning, and we call it trainee, or assistant, or on a really bad week, "please, anyone". The market didn't disappear. The label did. And to every firm quietly binning its junior roles this year, fine, save your money. Then ring me in 2032 asking why there's nobody ready to step up. There's nobody because you never hired them. AI can do a graduate's tasks. It can't do a graduate's growing up. Good luck promoting ChatGPT to team leader. Class of 2026, stop hunting a graduate job and go and get a job. Small, local, deeply unglamorous. You'll be doing real work by Wednesday, because there's nobody else to do it.