UK Graduate jobs market spread unevenly, with most found in London

The Higher Education Careers Service Unit has reported that 62% of graduates manage to get jobs six months after university, whilst 9% are unemployed.

14% stay on for further study and the remainder opt for training while working, or other activities.

These figures are much the same as last year’s, and are "better than feared", but a strong geographical bias has been noted.

Research has found that a third of graduates are working in London and the South-East, but far fewer settle to work in the North East.

It found that some other parts of the UK also had relatively strong labour markets, with a range of jobs. These were often bigger cities, such as Birmingham, Bristol and Manchester.

Affluent areas also possess a strong market, such as Oxfordshire, Surrey and Hampshire.

Science jobs are best found in Oxfordshire or Cambridgeshire, and those pursuing the arts are most likely to find work in Merseyside, Hertfordshire or Surrey.

In contrast, the lowest proportion of graduates in England are working in the North East and East Midlands.

Research has also given a picture of the types of jobs graduates settle into 6 months after leaving university. Worryingly, a high percentage are having to settle for jobs that do not necessarily require a degree.

The most typical sector is in retail, catering and bar staff, representing about 15% of young graduates. There are 13% in health sector jobs, 8% in business and financial jobs and about 7% in media and design.

Few people will have entered jobs which usually require postgraduate training, such as law.

However, the weak economy seems to have encouraged entrepreneurial spirit, with an upward trend in self-employment.

The deputy research director at Hecsu, Charlie Ball, remains positive. “In a difficult jobs market and a struggling economy, over 166,000 of last year's graduates were known to be working in the UK six months after leaving university - nearly 8,000 more than the previous year," he said.

"The figures show that even in difficult times, graduates can and do get jobs," he concluded.