EMLT Project: Introduction to the UK Context.Dr Celia Jenkins & Dr Umit Cetin

Aims:

Policy background to the relationship between education and the labour market in the UK

Empirical evidence of graduate un/employment Issues of definition of employability Existing UK research on the EMLT

Policy Context: Education on the Supply Side

Traditional academic orientation with emphasis on credentialism (Tholen, 2014)

HE selective determining access to homogeneous LM trajectories

Expansion of mass HE in 1990s and heterogeneity of LM

Since Dearing Report (1997), government required more alignment of HE with LM

OECD (2004/7) and EU Lisbon goal (2010) put employability at forefront of HE and LM policies.

Blair govt set 50% 18-30s in HE by 2010. Market orientation in HE drives positional

competition for jobs in the LM.

Policy Context: Labour Market Transformations on the demand side Global transformation to knowledge economy

(McGuinness & Sloane, 2009) Changes in structure of employment with rise of

service sector and decline of traditional manufacturing (Moreau & Leathwood, 2006).

Segmented LM with horizontal and vertical divisions and greater insecurity since recession.

Changes in employer demands of workers so no longer jobs for life but employability

Degrees are required for more emerging graduate jobs of lower quality with less satisfaction (Okay-Somerville & Scholarios, 2013).

Definitions of Employability (Hazenberg et al, 2015)

Employability = “marketability of cumulative personal skills (Arthur & Rousseau, 1996).

USEM model (Yorke & Knight (2004)) 4 attributes:Subject knowledgeCritical evaluation skillsGraduate efficacy and self-belief in abilitiesLearning from experience and self-control.

Ideal graduate is well-rounded, flexible, neo-liberal subject (Tholen, 2014)

Students understand competition as demand driven and generate strategies depending on what employers are seen to value.

Students assume personal qualities most important in getting jobs (Moreau & Leathwood, 2006)

Empirical Evidence of Graduate Employment

Graduates doubled between 1991 & 2001 = 37.4% of youth population (Moreau & Leathwood, 2006)

Labour Force Survey (2014):30 m in employment – 30% in public services,

19% hotels/catering &10% manufacturing.Unemployment = 7% of working population,

more likely to be unqualified.15% employers report skills gap and 4% skills

shortage due to lack of training opportunities.34% employers provide no training for workers.

• Empirical Evidence continued

ONS (2012) data for 2011 graduate unemployment = 18.9% and national rate = 8.4%64.1% graduates in graduate jobs, less than in

2001 when 73.2% (Hazenberg et al, 2014) LFS (2014)

In 2011, out of 33 OECD countries, UK:19th in terms of low skills, 24th in terms of

intermediate skills and 11th for high skillsUK ranked one of lowest in investing in skills

training and falling behind in matching LM demands.

Current Research on the Mismatch and Transforming Graduate Employability Analysis of data sets on LM mismatch in UK

Graduates -using REFLEX data – (McGuiness & Sloane, 2009)

Psycho-social evaluations to improve employability – interventions work best for ug rather than pg students and those who have been out of work longer (Hazenberg et al, 2015).

Moreau & Leathwood (2006) interviewed students who focused on personal attributes as key to getting jobs and dismissed structural factors.

Policy analysis stress external factors in accessing graduate employment (Tholen, 2014)