The number of entry-level jobs available to university graduates has collapsed by 45% from last year, falling to just 8,383 in July, according to startling new figures. The drop comes as more than 260,000 people are set to start university this year, intensifying fears that many young people will struggle to find work after graduating.
The news will not have come as a shock to those who have entered the job market over the past two decades, but it is set to heap further pain on Generation Z, those born after the Millennial cohort. Millennials, born between 1981 and 1996, have long lamented that those who came before them never knew how good they had it, and in several areas they may have the right of it.
Government policies blamed for jobs slump
The collapse in graduate jobs is being blamed on a combination of government policies and broader economic pressures. Employers across the country are slashing jobs in the wake of Rachel Reeves' National Insurance hike, which has been described as a 'jobs tax'. The increase has forced companies to stop hiring, according to critics.
At the same time, the Big Four accountancy companies have issued apocalyptic warnings that artificial intelligence, described as the monstrous spawn of Californian tech bros, is slowly munching its way through entry-level jobs. The combination of higher employment costs and automation is squeezing the opportunities available to new graduates.
Generational resentment on the rise
The situation has led to staggering levels of resentment between the ages, with the young increasingly feeling as if they are being left behind. Without a good job, many graduates consign themselves to a life on the dole, while those who do find work face entry-level wages that remain low, making it unlikely they will ever be able to purchase their own home.
Having a stake in society is a vital part of a thriving democracy, yet decades of ruinously foolish education, tax and business policies have set young people up to fail. The expectation on children to attend university has remained unchanged, even as the system has begun to resemble something of a racket since Tony Blair's push to get as many Brits into university as physically possible.
Now it is up to Andy Burnham, himself an adherent of the nation-wrecking creed of socialism, to defuse this ticking time bomb and get the country back on track. Don't hold your breath.
