Graduate salaries were frozen last year for the first time since records began and will also stagnate this year, a survey of major employers suggests today.

They said university leavers unable to find jobs should temp or do voluntary work rather than go on a gap year.

Too many unemployed graduates are returning to university to do pointless postgraduate courses that will not help their career, the findings indicate.

The twice-yearly survey by the Association of Graduate Recruiters(AGR) sought the opinions of more than 200 of the biggest employers including Boots, Shell, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Sainsbury and Barclays.

The number of vacancies fell sharply last year, by 8.9 per cent, and is also expected to decrease next year, but only by 1.6 per cent. Experts believe the graduate job market will start to grow again in 2011.

However that is little comfort for today's graduates, who are the first cohort to pay top-up tuition fees for their entire degree, and face an intensively competitive search for jobs.

Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the AGR, said: "Though vacancy figures are starting to turn the corner, the picture for salaries is less positive from graduates’ perspective."

"This could not have come at a worse time for the current crop of graduates, who are the first to enter the workplace with the daunting task of paying off three years of tuition fees ahead of them.

"Those with jobs in banking, finance and law will be somewhat cushioned from the impact, but graduates starting out in the public sectors will really feel the pinch this year."

"If the Browne Review recommends lifting the cap off tuition fees, the need to secure a good graduate starting salary will become even more vital in future years."

Boom areas for graduates include banking and financial services, where vacancies are expected to rise by a quarter on last year. The largest growth is predicted by consulting and oil companies, which both anticipate almost a 50 per cent increase in graduate jobs.

Source: The Times Online
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/student/article7020427.ece