Graduates stuck in dead end jobs as student numbers rise

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Research shows thousands are working as waiters, call centre staff or shop assistants.

Last year's graduates were almost as likely to be found in office admin or customer service jobs as in the professions.

Degrees in history, philosophy, communications and languages had the highest chance of leading to non-graduate work. Some 11 per cent of arts and design students were jobless compared with zero per cent of medics and dentists.

The 2005/6 figures from the Higher Education Statistics Agency suggest a rise in student numbers is forcing many into stop-gap jobs.

They face the additional burden of huge debts run up while studying. The average graduate pay packet was unchanged on 2004/5 at £19,000 a year.

Sixteen per cent of last year's graduates are pursuing further studies while 8 per cent are working and studying at the same time.

Of the remainder, 41 per cent were either still looking for work or in jobs not generally considered to require a degree. The 59 per cent who had found higherstatus work included almost 34,000 professionals such as doctors.