47% of recent graduates in non-graduate jobs – really..?

“Jobs warning for new graduates”, cautions the BBC, “Half of recent UK graduates stuck in non-graduate jobs” bemoans The Guardian. Headlines emanating from the latest ONS report, Graduates in the UK labour market 2013 which claims 47% of recent graduates are in non-graduate jobs, up from 37% in 2001. But are the career prospects of our university leavers really that bad? Not so argues Charlie Ball from the Higher Education Careers Service Unit (HECSU) as he responds to these headlines in a reality check article in The Guardian (20 November). Charlie points to a number of caveats which help provide a little more context and encouragement for the classes of 2013 and 2014.