英大學生"畢業即失業"創紀錄 懂漢語者起薪最高

Nearly one in 11 graduates are unemployed six months after leaving university – the highest proportion for 17 years, a study reveals today.

Rising numbers are taking jobs that do not require degrees, including as waiters and checkout workers, the survey of almost 225,000 graduates shows.

The poll, by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit charity, covered 82% of those who completed an undergraduate degree last summer and live in the UK. The pollsters interviewed the graduates in January – six months after they left university. It comes as ministers plan to substantially increase the amount graduates pay for their degrees.

The study found 8.9% of graduates, or just over 21,000, were out of a job after six months, a one percentage point rise on the previous year.

The proportion of university leavers with a graduate-level job – as defined by the government – has dropped 3.3 points to 62.4%, the charity found. The proportion working in retail and catering rose by 3.8 points to 14.4% – about one in seven.

The mean starting salary for graduates has not kept pace with inflation and is now £19,695 – an £18 rise on last year, the survey found. Those who had studied Chinese had the highest starting salary at £24,540 a year, while fine art graduates started on the lowest wage at £14,625.

Some 59.2% of the graduates were employed, compared with 61.4% the previous year. Some 15.4% were studying or in training, up from 14.1%. A further 8% were taking postgraduate degrees, down 0.1%.

The public sector is one of "very few" areas that has continued to recruit graduates in the recession, the charity said, fuelling fears as the sector prepares to shed hundreds of thousands of roles.

The government describes engineering degrees as "strategically important" for the economy. But 11.9% of civil engineering graduates were out of work six months after they graduated, as were 11.8% of mechanical engineering graduates. Geography and psychology graduates were least likely to be unemployed. Some 7.4% and 8.3% were out of a job respectively.

Charlie Ball, the charity's deputy research director, said he expected employment rates to rise, but added: "With the anticipated public sector job cuts, the future in the medium-term looks less clear. It depends on what the government does and how the private sector reacts. This will determine things for graduates for the next three to four years."

英國今日發佈的一項調查顯示，近1/11的大學畢業生在離校六個月後還未能就業，達到了17年來的最高比例。

該調查覆蓋了近22.5萬名畢業生。結果顯示，越來越多的畢業生開始選擇那些不需要學位的崗位，其中包括服務員和收銀人員。

此次調查由慈善機構高等教育就業服務處進行。調查涵蓋了去年夏季在英國取得本科學位且目前在英國生活的82%的畢業生。調查人員於今年一月份，即畢業生離校六個月之後，對他們進行了訪問。調查進行之時，恰逢多位部長計劃要大幅提高大學生的學費。

該研究發現，8.9%的畢業生（2.1萬多人）在畢業六個月後還沒有工作，與去年相比上升了一個百分點。

該慈善機構還發現，大學畢業生從事政府定義下和自身學歷相符的工作的人數比例下降了3.3%，爲62.4%。而在零售業和餐飲業工作的人數比例上升了3.8%，達到14.4%（約爲七分之一）。

調查發現，畢業生微薄的起薪趕不上通貨膨脹的速度。目前大學畢業生的起薪平均爲19695英鎊，與去年相比增加了18英鎊。那些學習過漢語的畢業生起薪最高，年薪2.45萬英鎊。而藝術專業的畢業生起薪最低，僅爲14625英鎊。

曾經工作過的畢業生約佔59.2%，而去年這一比例爲61.4%。正在學習或接受培訓的人約佔15.4%，高於去年的14.1%。還有8%的人在攻讀碩士學位，同比下降0.1%。

該慈善機構稱，在經濟衰退期間，公共行業是繼續招聘畢業生的“極少數”領域之一。然而由於公共行業現在預備裁員數十萬，引發了人們的擔憂。

英國政府稱工程學學位對經濟發展具有“重要的戰略意義”。但是，11.9%的土木工程專業畢業生、11.8%的機械工程專業畢業生在畢業六個月後仍然沒有工作。地理和心理學專業畢業生失業率最低，其失業比例分別爲7.4%和8.3%。

該慈善機構研究處副主任查理•波爾表示，他認爲就業率將會上升，但是他也表示：“隨着公共部門進行預期裁員，中期內的就業前景還不是很明確。這將取決於政府的行動以及私有企業的反應。這些因素都將決定未來三到四年內畢業生的就業狀況。”

Vocabulary:

checkout: the place where you pay for the things that you are buying in a supermarket （超級市場的）付款臺，付款處

catering: the work of providing food and drinks for meetings or social events （會議或社交活動的）飲食服務，酒席承辦

fine art: forms of art, especially painting, drawing and sculpture, that are created to be beautiful rather than useful 藝術（尤指繪畫和雕塑）

civil engineering: the design, building and repair of roads, bridges, canals, etc.; the study of this as a subject（土木工程；土木工程學）