Graduate employment survey: going behind the figures

摘要

EARLIER this year, the RCVS commissioned a report from the Institute of Employment Studies (IES) asking recent graduates about their first job, amid fears that rising graduate numbers were having an impact on employment prospects within the profession. These fears have been largely allayed by the report's preliminary findings, which were made available in July (VR, July 13; 2013, vol 173, pp 31-32). These show a relatively consistent number (between 92 per cent and 96 per cent each year) of graduatesable to find a job within six months over the past five years; the number who felt that this job wholly or partly met their needs also showed no significant change, hovering between 83 per cent and 88 per cent. Interestingly, the number who found work within three months fell by 11 per cent in 2009, and this may in part also appears higher. However, I think that this is to misrepresent the figures.