Bright lights of London losing appeal for new graduates

The bright lights and lucrative starting salaries of London are no longer enough to lure many recent graduates from their families and friends. According to the latest Graduate Market Trends report from Graduate Prospects, seven in ten recent graduates now choose to live and work outside the traditional graduate employment hotspots of London and the South East.

The report, which explores the mobility patterns of the 2003 graduating cohort six months after leaving university, dispels the myth that all graduates head south. Whilst London and the South East remain the most popular destinations with just over one in six, 17.6 per cent, heading for the Capital, and a further 12.3 per cent for the South East, the North West emerges as the third most popular destination for graduates with 11.3 per cent finding work in the region.

Not far behind is Scotland, home for 8.5 per cent of recent graduates, followed by Yorkshire and the Humber, with 7.7 per cent of recent graduates, and the South West, with seven per cent. Bottom of the list are Northern Ireland which employs just 3.1 per cent of recent graduates, the North East, 4.1 per cent, and Wales, 4.4 per cent.

Commenting on these graduate mobility figures, Mike Hill, chief executive, Graduate Prospects, said:

ìLondon and the South East have always been magnets for newly qualified graduates which is not surprising given that this is where many of the blue chip companies offering fast track graduate training schemes reside. What is surprising now, is the extent of the drift away from these traditional graduate employment hotspots, perhaps reflecting the trend towards increased graduate employment in the public sector and SMEs ñ both of which have less regional bias.î

The report also highlights the extent to which graduates choose to remain in their region of study post graduation. At least forty per cent of the 2003 graduating cohort stayed close to their university or college, and most regions actually retained at least half of their student population following graduation.

Top of the list for regional retention are Northern Ireland and Scotland, which retained 96.9 per cent and 84.8 per cent respectively of their 2003 graduating students. Looking at England in isolation, London retains the highest percentage of its students, with nearly seven in ten, 69.9 per cent choosing to stay in the Capital. This is closely followed by the North West at 66.6 per cent; and Wales at 59.4 per cent. Bottom of the list for retention is the East Midlands, which retains 41 per cent of its students, slightly below the South East at 45.6 per cent.

Looking at actual numbers of students rather than percentages, the picture confirms London, Scotland, the North West, the South East and Yorkshire and the Humber as major graduate employment hotspots retaining the highest numbers of graduates:

ìLooking at graduate mobility in England alone, that London tops the list is not surprising as the Capital is the major centre for two sectors hugely popular with graduates ñ finance and media. In the North West, the biggest employer is the public sector with 19.7 per of graduates in the region working in health and social work, followed by retail, 12.9 per cent, and education, 11.8 per cent, providing further evidence that increasingly popular public sector work is more likely to keep students in their region of study,î said Mike Hill.

Looking at the influx of graduates to a region just three areas enjoyed a net gain in excess of their graduating population. The East of England came out top with a net gain of 38.5 per cent. This region produced 6525 graduates who found employment in their first six months following graduation, but actually employed 9035.

ìThis wider distribution of graduates across the country can only be a good thing; it suggests that much of the nationís top intellectual talent is now being dispersed across a wider range of businesses and business sectors. It may also infer, however, that student debt and the perceived higher cost of living in London and the South East may be putting some graduates off making a break from areas where they have established themselves and have a good support network,î concluded Hill.