This Office for National Statistic (ONS) report looks at the impact of the coronavirus on the labour market outcomes of graduate workers in the UK, focusing on unemployment, occupational shifts and the skills mismatch.
According to the report, recent graduates are facing tough challenges in the labour market amid the Covid-19 pandemic, but overall graduates are more likely to be in employment than people without a degree.
Recent graduates have been particularly affected by the lockdown. They are facing more difficult labour market conditions than they were a few years ago as the economy has slowed and many sectors are shut down.
Some of the jobs that have seen increased demand during the pandemic revolve around digital technology. These are typically higher skilled jobs which require a degree and are suitable for home working, which helps to explain why graduates have fared better compared to non-graduates.
Graduate workers were better able to change occupations in the periods prior to and in the first few months of the crisis, compared with workers in the total labour force in the UK. These occupational shifts may have been helped by their wider skill set. Given the higher level of human capital, graduates may be in a stronger position to adjust to challenges imposed by the pandemic in terms of retaining jobs and finding new employment opportunities; however, these jobs may not be of the same quality and they may not fit their skill profile.