Graduates frantically looking to secure their first role in a competitive market will welcome the news that the number of fresh graduate jobs in UK is finally beginning to pick up.
Industry body Work Wise UK has argued that employers are beginning to target graduates directly for an increasing amount of roles, after years of recruiting new staff from other groups.
Phil Flaxton, chief executive of Work Wise UK, argued that large UK banks are beginning to take on degree-holders in "reasonable numbers", after cutting graduate recruitment levels over the last two years.
He went on to argue that graduates haven’t found it as difficult to locate placements in the last couple of years, although he emphasised that there were "great variances" in the availability of graduate training schemes across the UK.
The buoyancy of the graduate jobs market is also influenced by "where you are on the spectrum”, according to Mr Flaxton, indicating that some graduates may be more attractive to employers than others, as well as geographical location.
Recent figures from the Local Government Association, which represents more than 370 councils across England and Wales, also revealed discrepancies in the number of graduates who are employed in the UK.
While some areas saw around one in three graduates (36%) in full-time employment, other areas had 60% of graduates (or two in three) in full-time employment.
Further data showed that of the 20 local authorities with the lowest proportion of graduates in full-time employment, 17 are in London.
Councillor Peter Box, Chairman of the LGA’s Economy and Transport Board, argued that although the figures are of concern, they do present some hope.
“These figures are particularly worrying at a time when thousands of young people are gearing up to go off to university with the hope of improving their job prospects.
“But it’s not all doom and gloom: some places are seeing graduate employment levels increase in line with the different job opportunities local ecologies are able to offer.”