Graduate recruitment 2008: reasons to be cheerful?

Despite general fears about the impact of the ‘credit crunch’, graduates seeking a place on a graduate training programme this Summer still have reasons to be cheerful, finds the latest annual survey from Incomes Data Services published by the monthly Executive Compensation Review. The survey shows that employers are predicting an overall 12.2 per cent increase in graduate recruits in 2008, buoyed by an anticipated 31.7 per cent increase into manufacturing firms.

But while the current outlook remains optimistic, there are clouds on the horizon. Finance firms, for example, are planning to take on 14.7 per cent fewer graduates this Summer compared to last year – and explaining reasons for the cutbacks some cited the ‘credit crunch’. So far, however, graduate recruitment plans in other sectors remain positive, but if current financial problems spread to the rest of the economy then the present prospect of modest job growth could rapidly turn into a jobs ‘bust’.

These are among the findings of the just released Pay and progression for graduates 2008 research report. This is the twenty-second survey of graduate pay and prospects survey from the Executive Compensation Review, which concentrates on specific graduate training programmes in nearly 100 named recruiters. Other key findings are:

• graduate recruitment in 2007 increased by 18.3 per cent but in 2008 is expected to increase by 12.2 per cent;


• the public sector is putting a break on recruitment, with double digit growth of 2007 being replaced by a more modest 7.8 per cent in 2008; Two finance firms have put a total freeze on graduate recruitment in 2008;


• the median rise in starting salaries for first-degree graduates in 2007 was 3.6 per cent, while in 2008 the median rise is expected to be just 2.5 per cent


• the average starting salary for first-degree graduates in 2007 was £23,755;


• the forecast average starting salary in 2008 is £23,800.

Steve Tatton, editor of the report, said: “It is evident that the graduate labour market is holding up, but it is fragile at present and a bad turn in the economy could easily tip what currently seems to be a modest ‘jobs boom’ into a ‘jobs bust’.”

A copy of the introduction and summary from Pay and progression for graduates 2008 is attached. The findings in the report are based on responses from 96 organisations, and the full 47-page report is priced at £275.

Click here for more information and to buy the report.