Some say that there are too many people going to university, and others have spent many years lamenting that they cannot find the graduates they need. What is the actual state of the graduate labour market? How many graduates actually are there? How is a graduate job defined, and how many people are there in them? And what does the future hold for…

Concerns over the supply of highly-skilled (HS) science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) workers are well established and have been a feature of policy discourse in the UK for more than 50 years. Since the 2016 referendum on leaving the European Union, these concerns have been exacerbated by uncertainty about the movement of labour…

We quantify the returns to higher education for degree disciplines, namely 'professional' degrees, Medicine/Dentistry, Law, Accountancy and Psychology, within the UK from 2007 to 2015. We estimate the returns to education in the form of employment and wage premia associated with each subject. Our analysis contributes to the existing literature on…

This research paper is the fifth in a series produced as part of the Cedefop project The changing nature and role of VET (2016-18). Based on comparative analysis of labour force survey data from 2014, the report analyses the vocational effect on labour market and education outcomes, asking whether any advantages conferred by vocational…

Across OECD countries, more and more individuals have attained tertiary education and the share of those with less education has declined. Although there are more tertiary-educated individuals than ever before, they still achieve good labour market outcomes. This confirms that labour market demand is generally keeping pace with rising educational…

Nowadays, women outperform men in educational attainment in many countries. Still, large variation between countries remains. Emancipatory contexts in which individuals are raised might explain these differences in male-female educational attainment, both over time and across countries. This study examines individual and contextual factors that…

Though a relative small part of the school sector, private schools have an important role in British society, and there are policy concerns about their negative effect on social mobility. Other studies show that individuals who have attended a private school go on to have higher levels of educational achievement, are more likely to secure a…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to introduce the key themes in the area of the impact of demographic change on young workers and older workers in relation to education, skills and employment, as discussed in the papers included in this section. The authors have also drawn upon data from their project "From Young Workers to Older…

In this paper we seek to put Irish poverty rates in a comparative European context. We do so in a context whereby the Irish economic boom and EU enlargement have led to increasing reservations being expressed regarding rates deriving from the EU "at risk of poverty" indicator. Our comparative analysis reports findings for both overall…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the issues around a multiple generational workforce and more specifically, the challenges and benefits for education providers and employers. Design/methodology/approach: Reviewing research papers, analysing academic texts, interrogating market intelligence and contextualising case studies, the…

Comparative analysis of the transition from higher education to work often focuses on cross-national variations of higher education systems to explain country-specific mobility patterns of higher education graduates. The structure of graduate labour markets, however, has received less attention, despite differences across countries. Variations in…

This paper provides an analysis of changing patterns of transition from before the second world to the end of the twentieth century. It examines the longer term changes in the occupational structure and the consequential transformation of the patterns of labour market entry for young people. It links labour market entry to subsequent early…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore the possible implications for graduate employability of the economic changes which are affecting the UK in the wake of the "credit crunch". It explores the changing economic context and its implications both for HEIs and for graduates starting their careers. Design/methodology/approach:…

The main thesis of this paper is that measured unemployment bears a different relationship to real excess labor supply in the 1970s than it did in the 1960s. This thesis is used to explain the increase in measured unemployment in the Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States. (Author/EB)

Reviews the position of women in the United Kingdom labor market and the increasing complexity of their employment patterns. Criticizes current career theory for girls and women and examines enhancers and inhibitors of women's career development. Briefly discusses promising developments in theory-building for girls and women, together with some…