More graduates doing unskilled work

Thousands of graduates are taking jobs they could have got without a degree, according to official statistics.

More than one in four are doing secretarial, catering, sales or administrative jobs six months after graduating.

The figures cast doubt on the Government's plans to expand still further the proportion of young people going into higher education, aiming for a target of 50 per cent by 2010.

Critics have warned that flooding the market with graduates will devalue the worth of a degree, just as the Government is allowing universities to charge more for higher education. Ministersjustified higher tuition fees - and more graduate debt - by saying that graduates would go on to earn greater salaries.

But today's statistics, from the Higher Education Statistics Agency, cast further doubt on that assumption. They show that six months after graduating, nearly 13,900 who finished their degrees last summer - seven per cent - had no job at all. Of the 123,600 who were in work, 22,600 were in administrative jobs and 13,700 were in sales.

That compared with 10,500 in managerial jobs, 30,500 in professional occupations and 32,500 in "associate professional and technical operations".

The figures cannot be compared with previous years because of changes in collection methods.

Alan Smithers, professor of education at Buckingham University, said: "Clearly, with up to 50 per cent of young people going to university, graduate jobs are being redefined.

"A lot of young people are going to have their aspirations and expectations for jobs out of line with what is available to them," he added.

The Tories seized on today's statistics to attack the Government's education policies.

Shadow higher education minister Chris Grayling said: "There are already far too many graduates struggling to find graduate-level jobs.

"To try to encourage more young people to take degrees and to ask them to pay more to do so shows how out of touch the Government has become."