The IES Annual Graduate Review 1997-1998: The Fragmenting Graduate Market.

Data collated by the University of Sussex (England) Institute for Employment Studies were examined to identify trends and issues in higher education (HE) and the graduate labor market in the United Kingdom. The analysis focused on the following: higher education and the changing graduate labor market; the traditional pool of candidates for HE; admissions to degree courses; graduate output; student finances; graduates' movement into employment; and longer-term career patterns. The rate of participation in HE was discovered to have risen from 12% in the early 1980s to more than 30% in 1996-1997. In 1997, more than 150,000 graduates moved into employment, entering an ever-widening range of occupations and careers. Although many graduates reported difficulties moving into permanent jobs of the type and level they were seeking, one in three of the major recruiters contacted reported difficulties recruiting graduates in 1997. HE graduates were taking longer to settle into the labor market than previously and were in many cases moving into lower-level jobs than those initially obtained by their predecessors; however, they continued to advance to higher salaries and receive more training than nongraduates did. (Thirty-one tables/figures and the names/addresses of 14 sources of additional information are included. The bibliography contains 38 references.) (MN)