Categories: BusinessNews

Nearly a third of graduates too educated for their job

Nearly a third of graduates are too educated for their job, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) has found as part of its quarterly Economic Review.

The data shows to 34.2 per cent of those who graduated after 2007 are overeducated for the profession they are in compared to just 21.7 per cent of those who graduated before 1992.

London is the UK region with the highest proportion of overeducated workers, which is partly due to the relatively high proportion of migrant labour in London, a group that the article shows are typically overeducated.

The incidence of overeducation was highest in the 25 to 34 years and 35 to 49 years age groups.

Commenting on the findings, senior ONS economist Dr Maja Savic said: “While overeducation is more prevalent in recent graduates, it is also common for those who left university some time ago.

“Our findings show that people who studied arts, biology and humanities are the most likely to be overeducated.”

Jack Peat

Jack is a business and economics journalist and the founder of The London Economic (TLE). He has contributed articles to VICE, Huffington Post and Independent and is a published author. Jack read History at the University of Wales, Bangor and has a Masters in Journalism from the University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

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