Contractors going strong while graduates are struggling in London

The average age of a contractor is 37. It wouldn’t be too presumptuous to assume that contractors and freelance professionals generally have more experience under their belt. SJD Accountancy recently reported that London ‘the place to be for contractors’ with businesses in the capital opening their doors to contractors after a bleak 6 months. So with the capital embracing contractors with open arms, shouldn’t soon to be graduates be looking forward to the same treatment? If only it were that simple…

Included in the many things London has to offer is higher education. East London alone boasts well established universities such as Queen Mary College, Greenwich University and The University of East London, to name a few. With new developments in the area, the most obvious being the preparations in place for the 2012 Olympics, East London is projecting itself as the most obvious place to be for students and young professionals alike. However this is tainted with the current state of higher education in Britain. Not to say that this is the main contributing factor to the less than hopeful outlook for students of the East end, but it certainly does hinder the prospects for graduates of London and England alike.

It’s near impossible not to notice that Universities have come under scrutiny lately. Whether it’s due to the excessive cuts, increased tuition fees or the sudden surge of degree courses that leave students with nothing but an attractive certificate (and not the attractive job related to it), overall the prospect of University is looking bleak. Looking back it wasn’t always like this though. Through history the state of Universities in Britain have gone through many changes, most notably social ones. These vast changes are undeniable; however I am not stating that the historical constructs of University were in any way more useful to the students who went there, but were different enough that when compared certainly do highlight the tension building for graduates today.

The ‘Idea of University Today’ by Robert Anderson looks back upon these social changes of University life and categorises the early stages as an ‘exclusion of the masses’ and a one way ticket for the elite members of social status. A Steady growth in numbers was seen in the professionalization of varied sectors of the workforce but mainly University was a common positioning for students (that were appropriately socially placed and rich enough) to study professions such as law and medicine. Anderson states that it wasn’t until the 1980’s that British Universities crossed over from Elite education to the masses with a rise of 15 per cent of the appropriate age group attending higher education. This doesn’t seem high but compared to the previous 4 per cent it definitely stood as a social ground breaker. A turning point is revealed in Anderson’s analysis of the development of higher education from 1980’s Britain to the present day when the percentage of participants in University had increased to 40 per cent. This saw the end of the perception that claimed University as an Elite social hierarchy and in turn was replaced by a far more accessible institution.

While this pivotal moment is positive on the surface (I for one definitely don’t think education should be limited to an individual’s social status) the present state of openness in Britain’s universities is not seeming to fulfil the masses when their degrees are finalised and thrown hastily into the workplace.

People and places, A 2001 Census atlas of the UK, by Daniel Dorling and Bethan Thomas reveals that while the number of graduates did not increase or decrease to a high degree in districts away from major cities, the City of London’s graduate population grew by 30 per cent from 1991 to 2001 leaving Westminster’s population of graduates as the second fastest growing area for graduates, showing figures from an already high 18 per cent in 1991 to 39 per cent in 2001. The BBC reported in February 2001 that the future was looking bright for graduates with a higher demand in the workplace following an increase of graduate employment from 1999 to 2001 of 8.8 per cent. However the actual number of graduates in full time work showed to decrease slightly in 2008/9 where 59% of known graduates were in employment compared to 62 per cent in 2007/8. Furthermore 10 per cent were unemployed in 2008/9 compared to 9 per cent in 2007/8. With this in mind, an increase of students was shown in higher education in London, standing at 426,175 in 2008/2009, an increase of 22,175 from the previous academic year.

With a gradual increase of graduates and students in London from 2001, the primary data concerning the overall graduate and student population doesn’t bode well for students in London and Britain all together. With a gradual decrease in graduate jobs but a surge of students flocking to London, it poses the question, where do graduates of London go after University? Furthermore it would be inaccurate not to consider the repercussions for international students London. Accounting for 24 per cent of London’s student population in 2008/2009 and over 15 per cent of Britain’s student population in total, there must be a reason for international students enrolling in British Universities, but I’m not sure it’s for the massive surge of graduate jobs available.

However the sheer magnitude of the 2012 Olympics must surely offer some relief to graduates in London? With jobs to fulfil in tourism and construction in particular, a few gifted graduates may be able take full advantage of the one of the most anticipated events in London. There have been a huge number of volunteer opportunities also associated with the 2012 Olympics and although this doesn’t begin the daunting process of paying back student fees it does offer some invaluable skills on your CV. So I guess you could say it’s not all doom and gloom.

But with the number of graduate unemployment doubling since the recession and in the third quarter of 2010, it seems the graduate game is one of luck these days.