Graduate jobs slow

The number of 2005 graduates in work six months after graduation was lower than for the previous year, figures show.

Information technology graduates fared worst, with 10.3 per cent of them unemployed six months after leaving university. But this is an improvement on 2003, when the figure was 10.7 per cent. Art and design graduates were the next least likely to have found a job, with 10.2 per cent unemployed after six months.

The study by the Higher Education Careers Service Unit shows that overall 6.2 per cent of graduates were unemployed six months after leaving university last year compared with 6.1 per cent the year before. The survey does not distinguish between different types of permanent employment.