Young people face fewer entry-level jobs in 2020

Young workers will be competing for fewer positions this year, according to data collected for the Institute of Student Employers (ISE) showing that the entry-level jobs market is set to slow down.


The ISE’s Pulse survey for 2020 showed that, overall, employers are reportedly planning to increase their graduate vacancies by only 3% this year, compared to the predicted 18% growth in graduate recruitment numbers in 2019.


In the charity and public sector, graduate vacancies have increased by 14% which, the ISE said, is preventing the labour market from shrinking. If charity and public sector roles were removed from the figures, the market would be stagnant this year.


The research also found that employers are increasing vacancies for apprenticeships and school leaver programmes by just 2% — at the same point in 2019, employers reported an increase of 7% in apprenticeship vacancies.


ISE chief executive Stephen Isherwood said that the graduate market “is an early indicator of the health of the economy as employers tend to plan further ahead when deciding their graduate recruitment needs”. 


He added: “Outside the public sector the market is not looking particularly healthy. 


“The government needs to get the economy moving otherwise this year we’ll be in for a stagnant graduate labour market at best.” 


The survey ran for three weeks during December 2019 and received 296 responses.