The UK Graduate Labor Market - Coursework Example

Graduate Labour Market 1 Executive Summary Over education in the UK appears to be on the rise as a result of higher expectations from graduates and employers alike. While graduates expect a better pay from their prospective employers, their employers on the other hand expects quality work. As such, an environment has been created in the labour market where those with high qualifications stand a higher chance of securing well-paying jobs. However, while the expectations have been raised in the labour market, both sides appear to overlook the importance of skills and experience at the workplace. Skills and experience are important and often supersede education qualifications. Despite raising the standards for the UK graduate labour market, the pursuit for additional qualifications by graduates also creates challenges for universities and policy makers in the government. For instance, universities lack sufficient resources to serve the increasing population while the government is facing challenges in tackling the high unemployment rate among fresh graduates leaving college. As such, it is important for stakeholders in the education sector to liaise with policy makers in the government to solve the challenges created by over education and the increasing number of graduates in the UK labour market. 2.1 Introduction The graduate labour market is not static and continues to change with time; this is because of high expectations of employers and graduates in the labour market. In the current labour market, graduates expect better packages from their employers. Consequently, employers are demanding for higher qualifications from graduates joining the labour market. On the other hand, there seems to be a shift in the career path taken by most students. Since the labour market is competitive, most students are left with no option, but choose a career path that is not flooded in order to position themselves for better employment opportunities in the future. While higher qualification plays a role in improving professionalism and competency in the labour market, it also increases the gap between the high income and low-income earners. Further, as the population of students seeking further studies increase, the labour market is bound to suffer since there will be more job seekers and fewer vacancies to fill (McGuiness & Sloane 2011, p.135). 3.1 Analysis of UK graduate labour market and the incidence of over-education The UK labour market is competitive with employers preferring graduates with higher qualification. This view is influenced by the belief that employees with higher qualifications tend to produce positive outcomes at the workplace. In addition, the UK labour market tends to focus on professionalism in driving both service and industry based economy (Chevalier & Lindley 2009, p.307). This requires graduates to embrace specialisation in their fields, and mostly acquired through further training. However, the competitive nature of UK graduate labour market has created an environment where those with lesser qualification cannot compete at the same level with their counterparts with better qualifications. This is a challenge for the UK graduate labour market because, the unemployed graduates may move to other areas where they can get employment opportunities (Chevalier & Lindley 2009, p.315). Higher qualification also creates disparity in payment of wages where employed graduates with higher qualification are given a better package compared to graduates with lesser qualifications. In essence, higher qualifications in the UK graduate labour market seem to have overtaken considerations for the skills and experience of graduates with lesser qualifications in improving their employment terms (Chevalier & Lindley 2009, p.321). On the other hand, graduates with qualifications in the arts and humanities are almost redundant in the UK graduate labour market without postgraduate qualifications. In addition, setting high standards in the graduate labour market ensures that employers get value for the high wages paid to employees with higher qualifications (Maryomaras, McGuinness, O’Leary, Sloane & Wei 2013, p.386). Conversely, because of the raised standards in the graduate labour market, institutions are left with no option, but to expand and offer postgraduate courses. Such courses provide graduates in the labour market with a competitive advantage when looking for well-paying jobs in the labour market (Maryomaras et al. 2013, p.391). At present, there is an increasing number of students at the post graduate level. This is because the competition for employment opportunity for job seekers with a first degree is stiff that most of them end up without employment (Little & Arthur 2010, p.280). In some instances, employers may set the qualification at PhD level, which is not attainable for everyone mainly because of the cost and other commitments such as parenting. Accordingly, higher qualifications and expectations by graduates can be singled out as the main cause for over education in the UK (Chevalier & Lindley 2009, p.325). 4.1 Why over-education happen? UK is a multicultural society and everyone is entitled to acquire education regardless of ethnicity, gender, colour or race. Over the years, various minority groups in the UK have continued to acquire education with the aim of improving their living standards. However, in the early years, education seemed to be a preserve of the majority while the minority were satisfied with menial jobs. The workplace environment has since changed and employers are interested in job seekers with better qualifications (Little & Arthur 2010, p.286). The need for more qualified personnel in the job market has also led to the increase of institutions offering specialised training to meet the demands of the job market. The increasing number of individuals seeking specialised training in order to improve their chances in the job market makes this possible (Walker & Zhu 2008, p.701). While there are different courses that range from certificate, diploma and degree, it is evident that prospective job seekers with higher qualifications have the competitive edge in securing jobs that offer higher pay. As such, the institutions of higher learning are expanding the courses they offer to cater for the needs of students who want to upgrade their qualifications from degree level to post graduate level (Culkin & Mallick 2011, p.351). Liberalisation of the education sector has also led to the increase of institutions offering post high school education for persons seeking professional qualifications. Further, liberalising education provides an opportunity for those with lower qualifications to upgrade, and this also give them a chance to compete for the available vacancies in the job market. On the other hand, the demands in the labour market are also changing on a frequent basis and this presents new challenges for higher education (Mason, Williams & Cranmer 2009, p.8). 5.1 Impact of over-education on the job satisfaction? While further studies enable graduates to improve their knowledge base in a particular field, they often face challenges when it comes to practice. This is because over-education denies these graduates to opportunity to gain hands on experience at the workplace. As a result, over-education can lead to poor work and low job satisfaction because a person lacks the practical skills required (Osoian & Zaharie 2011, p.209). In most cases, those with higher qualifications at workplace often seek the help of their juniors with longer experience at the workplace. While higher qualification guarantees better pay, there are also high expectations from employers such as delivering quality work and improving productivity (Osoian & Zaharie 2011, p.211). Conversely, while over education can translate into better employment opportunity, numerous challenges also emerge. As such, a person has to balance work with other commitments not related to work. This can bring commotion where work overload seems to interfere with other family commitments such as attending family gatherings. This in turn may affect a person’s productivity at the workplace (Strauss & Leuze 2013, p. 438). In addition, there is also pressure from the junior staff that looks upon their leader with high qualifications to guide them at the workplace. However, failure may result in insubordination and in particular, where junior staff does not feel their leader is up to the task (Strauss & Leuze 2013, p.442). 6.1 Extent over-education is a short-term phenomenon Over education can be a short-term phenomenon, especially when the skills imparted to graduates do not apply in the job market. In addition, over education can also be irrelevant when graduates are not properly informed with regard to furthering their studies. In the job market, it is almost impossible for postgraduates without any skills or experience to secure employment in the graduate labour market. In this sense, lack of guidance with regard to career development makes pursuant of further studies short-lived (Devaney & Robert 2012, p.233). Career development in this regard means that, a person has to develop gradually in their career before seeking for further studies. This means that a person has to acquire skills and experience on the job and in various positions at lower levels before upgrading qualifications and promotion that comes thereafter (Devaney & Robert 2012, p.236). 7.1 Implications of over-education for Universities and Government policy makers While education is important in improving the living standards of the population, over education can be counterproductive for both Universities and Government policy makers. For instance, the demand for degrees can lead to Universities introducing more programs that they cannot manage because of limited resources. This often results in Universities producing graduates that are less competent compared to graduates from middle level colleges (Robinson, Murrells & Clinton 2006, p.291). Over education can also lower the standards of education because Universities may offer courses hurriedly for individuals who want to further their studies. In addition, a focus in over education results in a situation where more graduates are released in the job market. This increases underemployment because, not every employer can afford the pay demanded by fresh graduates from the University (Robinson, Murrells & Clinton 2006, p.302). Competition between Universities in terms of courses being offered is also stiff and this results in situations where different courses are approved without proper research on their sustainability. Over education can also result in commercialisation of higher education where institutions are only interested on the monetary gains from the fee paid by individuals seeking higher education. Higher population in the Universities also results in overcrowding in the lecture rooms and instructors are faced with difficult time attending to each student’s needs (Murray 2009, p.695). Government policy makers on their part face challenges associated with over education in terms of allocating funds support various public institutions of higher learning. The increase in student population also requires policy makers to increasing the grants disbursed to public universities to cater for student fees and improving facilities that enhance learning in the Universities (Warhurst 2008, p.73). The other challenge for the policy makers is the increased number of fresh graduates in the job market. As a result, policy makers are faced with the challenge of creating employment opportunity for the fresh graduates (Wilton 2012, p.608). Over education also results in an influx of intuitions that purport to offer various courses to meet the demands of graduates in the job market. However, most of these institutions only take advantage of the high demand for education and extort their clients without offering quality education. This is a problem that policy makers in the education sector are facing in terms of trying to improve the quality of higher education. Policy makers also need to deal with the issue of controlling the number of graduates entering the job market. Allowing a larger population of graduates to enter the labour market can result in a higher population of unemployed graduates; private institutions that admit students with lower qualifications exacerbate this (Alpin, Shackleton, & Walsh 2008, p.17). 8.1 Conclusion Education is important in improving living standards of individuals in terms of securing well-paying careers. However, as a result of an increased number of job seekers with high qualifications, employers have also raised their standards for employment. This has led to individuals going for further studies to upgrade their qualifications. On the other hand, institutions of higher learning have increased the number of courses they offer to accommodate the needs of graduates going back to study. As a result, there seems to be over education of professionals compared to the vacancies that exists out there for qualified graduates. 9.1 Recommendations (i) The department of higher education should set high requirement for Universities registered in the UK. (ii) Employers should concentrate more on the job seekers skills and experience rather than qualifications. (iii) Policy makers in the government should ensure that fewer private institutions are registered to limit the increased number of fresh graduates in the job market. (iv) There is a need for the government to balance employment between graduates and non-graduates. This will help to reduce the population of the unemployed among workers without higher qualifications in the job market. References Alpin, C., Shackleton, J.R., & Walsh, S 2008, ‘Over- and undereducation in the UK graduate labour market’, Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 23, no.1, p. 17. 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