ABSTRACT
This chapter examines a few of the more prominent myths about graduates and their relationship with the labour market, and provides data and evidence about them. It argues that older members of the population do not have degrees, but higher qualifications are much more common amongst the young. As the Annual Population Survey has shown, the proportion of graduates in the workforce has steadily and systematically increased year-on-year. The existence of underemployed graduates does not mean that there cannot be occupational shortages elsewhere in the economy and indeed that is exactly what the United Kindom (UK) experiences. The chapter argues that 'too many people go to university' it is often really a commentary on the perceived challenging state of the graduate labour market. The UK graduate labour market is large, robust and growing. But with relatively rapid expansion of higher education has come an increasing focus on the issue of graduate underutilisation.
