Labour market trends

According to Tomlinson (2007), the writer stated: “increasingly, individuals can no longer expect a ‘job for life’” this shows that it is becoming difficult and unusual for people to work on the same job for a long period of time (Tomlinson et al.: 2007). Furthermore to Tomlinson (2007) research, “employees instead have to take a more flexible and proactive approach to their working lives involving the management of their own employability” meaning that the individual has to be independent and manage their own employability to be able to reach their career goals. For example, the more skills and knowledge a worker has from their previous job or education, the more likely they are to get a professional job role and stay on it for a long time because in the labour market and the economy, the skills and knowledge is crucial and this is what makes the individual stand out (Tomlinson et al.: 2007).
In the graduate jobs market, there has been an impressive improvement during the end of 2014 and in the beginning of 2015 (Ball et al.: 2015). Throughout the years of 2013/14, the rate of employment for graduates, after 6 months, has risen in the previous year (Ball et al.: 2015). Around 76.6% of graduates had a job, some of them studied and are also managing to tackle work at the same time, opposed to 75.6% in the years 2012 and 2013 (Ball et al.: 2015). Furthermore, the unemployment rate has fallen, it used to be 7.3% in 2012/13 for the graduates and this year it is 6.3%. Most of the graduates, however, who worked (68.2%) used to be in a professional level in employment, 66.3% in the previous year (Ball et al.: 2015).
The 199,305 graduates who graduated in 2013/14 and who live in the UK have worked around 6 months after their graduation this also applies to the 11,225 graduates who graduated during the years of 2012 and 2013 (Ball et al.: 2015). Moreover, the graduates who had a professional job were around 135,980 in 2013/14 and 11,280 in the year before. Ball (2015), said: “the number of graduates entering jobs below professional level fell in both percentage and absolute terms.”
In 2014, the outcome for the new graduates has been changed and enhanced (Ball et al.: 2015). The economy has put on approximately 309,700 new employment placements all around the UK at a professional level in the year of 2014 (Ball et al.: 2015). This shows that the job market for the graduates is improving and becoming better each time.
According to Ball (2015), the outlook for the year 2015, for graduates, is looking good and pleasing. The previous measurements and statistics have shown that the figure of enhancing might be going slower. However, there are a couple of indicators that the economy is improving which means that in the next couple of years, from 2015 onwards, the job market for graduates will be fairly positive (Ball et al.: 2015). The demand for the graduates may stay at a high level for a while, there will also be many companies that will grow fast and they will recruit more individuals, as they will need many more graduates to work for their running businesses (Ball et al.: 2015).
In the year 2013/14, just around 199,305 graduates who live in the UK had a job in around 6 months after the day they graduated; this is known to be the highest number on the record (Ball et al.: 2015). Also, there was 500 more graduate entrants in that particular year (2013/14); HR and recruitment professionals, nursing and business project workers (Ball et al.: 2015). These roles that have been mentioned, all need a degree to be able to successfully get the job, so in order to work for these job roles, graduates much have a degree that suits the job role they are planning to work for (Ball et al.: 2015).
There has been a growth in the market, mainly due to the fact that the amount of entrants to the jobs at a professional level has increased and gone up unexpectedly (Ball et al.: 2015). It was stated by Ball (2015), that “the largest falls in numbers of graduates entrants were in sales and retail roles, and in routine office work” because people would not need a degree to be able to work for these jobs stated. However, many office work managers today, are still asking for qualifications from higher education, and some do not understand why they need a degree to work for these kind of job roles as long as the individual has the skills, knowledge, experience and the ability to work there, it should be acceptable but it is not in this case unfortunately which can make it unfair for some people. There has been another fall in the amount of numbers that has been shown for the medical sector (Ball et al.: 2015). According to Ball (2015), he stated: “besides medical practitioners, other roles seeing a reduction in graduate entrants included architecture, quantity surveying, and geology” (EXPAND ON THIS)
Moreover, Tomlinson (2007), believes that “university graduates occupy an interesting position in the economy and there are still competing interpretations about the outcome of graduates when they enter the labour market” this is showing that when graduates enter the labour market anything could happen however, the skills and knowledge of the graduate can make a very big difference. This is also one of the main reasons why extra-curricular activities are important and very useful when it comes to the graduates’ future career.
Extra-curricular activities are normally taken outside the usual program or the curriculum of the course that the individual is studying and attending; it is an activity that a student does outside their normal educational routine (Dictionary: 2014). Those who take part in extra-curricular activities will benefit from this in the future as well as the upcoming challenging responsibilities and duties that will be faced.
Furthermore, there are many advantages of extra-curricular activities for students, it helps them with having better grades in the subjects that they are studying and it also helps with improving on their communication skills, teamwork and leadership skills. It also helps with raising awareness as well as reaching bigger audiences (Kollmus et al.: 2013), and it motivates people to work harder and study well in school, college and university (Kollmus et al.: 2013).
The competition between the graduates in the labour market is expanding and getting larger (Roulin: 2011). Therefore, it is currently becoming harder for graduates to get a job at a professional level after their graduation. However, they could add value to their degree and make themselves stand out by undertaking extra-curricular activities, as this will give them even more skills and experience than the other pupils (Roulin: 2011). These graduates will be more likely to get a professional job role due to the extra-curricular activities that they have successfully completed.
Roulin (2011), stated that “today graduates are entering a labour market where competition is intensified, mainly due to the rise of mass higher education” this shows that it is becoming difficult for former students with a degree to get employed for professional job titles, due to the increased number of graduates. There are not many professional jobs available at this current time and date (Roulin: 2011).

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