Latest news with #graduates
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
Job prospects in the UK are grim – no wonder our kids are escaping abroad
Zoe Williams' piece on today's nepo job market is on the nose and tells me that nothing has changed in the past 40 years (Looking for a job? Who you know probably matters more than what you know, 15 July). It's not much to do with artificial intelligence, and studying chemistry is not the solution. Anecdotally, of the 13 engineering science graduates from Keble College, Oxford, in 1982, only three found work in the UK – in Daddy's firm. The rest of us went overseas. My nephew recently graduated in chemical engineering from Durham and could get nothing better than a lab assistant job in the UK. So he's joining a Norwegian oil firm in Stavanger, upstream research for the trading desk. My eldest daughter, a paramedic graduate, seems destined for emergency response in the Australian mining industry. My youngest has dreams of studying medicine. But Daddy has just explained to her that it means working overseas on graduation, attempting to default on the £100,000 debt she'll accumulate and never coming back. The reason this country is a declining parody of a developed nation is that kids are best served graduating from the Airport Bookstore School of Management and honing their bullshitting skills. Managers with a visceral understanding of the business and the conviction to recruit, train and retain the right talent are rare. So it defaults to HR drones and their clickbait competency AndersonBarwick-in-Elmet, West Yorkshire
Independent Singapore
2 days ago
- Independent Singapore
Singapore's preliminary suicide toll at 314: Why Singapore's quiet crisis is louder than it seems
SINGAPORE: A total of 314 suicides were reported in Singapore in 2024, with the sharpest increase observed among adults aged 30 to 39. For the sixth consecutive year, suicide remained the leading cause of death for youth aged 10 to 29, according to the Immigration and Checkpoints Authority's (ICA) Registration of Births and Deaths Report 2024, published in July. Of the 314 reported deaths, 64.3%—202 cases—were male, continuing male predominance in suicide statistics. The number of adults aged 30 to 39 who died by suicide surged from 43 in 2023 to 75 in 2024. Singapore's suicide rate now stands at 5.91 per 100,000 residents, based on provisional findings. These figures are not yet finalised. ICA's provisional suicide figure for 2023 was initially reported as 322 but was later revised to 434—an alarming 34.8 per cent increase. Online, netizens were swift to express concern. One wrote: 'Unsurprising to anyone watching what's going on in the world and our country. See also Woman suspected of attempting suicide at MRT station gets arrested Youth unemployment, rental spikes, hustle culture… It's a [bad] place for many people right now unless you're shielded by privilege or ignorance, or are extremely resilient. And they're surprised why we're choosing to have fewer to no kids…' His comment was widely upvoted, striking a chord with many. The numbers seem to support the sentiment. According to the Joint Graduate Employment Survey for the class of 2024, 12.9% of fresh graduates remained unemployed six months after graduation , up from 10.4% in the previous year. A preliminary Ministry of Manpower (MOM) study reported that employment among 2025 graduates as of June stood at 51.9% , a modest rise from 47.9% in June the previous year. It is not uncommon for job seekers to send out over a hundred applications before landing a full-time role. 'To our 2025 graduates, it is still early in your job search,' said Manpower Minister Dr Tan See Leng. 'We encourage everyone to keep an open mind to different opportunities in their job searches.' However, the issue may run deeper than patience and perspective. Several labour market observers point to the rise of AI eliminating backend roles , and global turbulence due to conflict and recession fears, which have made the entry-level job landscape more volatile. In parallel, Singaporeans have been grappling with a steep rise in the cost of living and rent . A 2024 study found that 85% of renters in Singapore feel prices for accommodation are too high . In commercial and retail sectors, some tenants reported rental hikes of up to 57% , squeezing small businesses out of the market and deterring new ventures. Overlay this with Singapore's deeply ingrained hustle culture —with citizens averaging 44.6 work hours a week, among the highest globally—and the picture becomes starker. Chronic sleep deprivation has even been labelled a public health crisis by the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy. Only one in four people gets more than seven hours of sleep daily, and only 17% of respondents sleep through the night. See also Late K-pop stars' Instagram accounts become memorialised Another netizen offered a more reflective take: 'And it hurts when you know at least 1 in that 314.' To their friends and families, they were a beloved child, parent, best friend, or companion. To the policeman picking up the body, they are an indelible mark in their career. Probably not the first, but always hoping it's the last. However, to the rest of society? They are just 1 in 314. A statistic. Nameless. Faceless. Let's learn to look out for one another. There is no 'weak' when it comes to reaching out for help. There is no 'overreacting' when you refer someone for help. The statistics may be provisional, but the grief, the fatigue, and the growing pressure on the social fabric—they are real. Singapore's quiet crisis isn't so quiet anymore. The question is whether we are listening.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Metro Milwaukee ranked No. 2 in the country for recent college graduates seeking jobs
The metro Milwaukee area is one of the best places in the country for young people looking for a job, according to ADP Research. ADP published a report titled "You've graduated. Now what?" using payroll data of more than 140,000 people age 20 to 29 at more than 27,000 employers in 55 metro areas with at least one million residents. ADP is the research arm of a human resources management software company. The report ranked Milwaukee No. 2, behind Raleigh, N.C. The report ranked the areas by annual wages, hiring rates and affordability. Milwaukee's hiring rate increased from 2.3% to 3.7% "leaping over greater Baltimore, Maryland, and Austin, Texas," the report said. The report found metro Milwaukee's hiring rate to be in the 98th percentile, with affordability in the 70th percentile and wages in the 46th percentile. "Being at the top of this list highlights Milwaukee as a promising city for recent grads, with strong wages, high hiring rates, and affordable cost of living for people in their 20s working jobs that require a bachelor's degree, at least by comparison to other metro areas," said Sam Adieze, data scientist with ADP Research and author of the report, in a statement. "This holistic view of the Milwaukee metro is all the more salient now that the labor market for those jobs is cooler than it was a few short years ago." The report caught the attention of Dale Kooyenga, president of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, who called Milwaukee "a city of opportunity." 'We're seeing a surge in companies investing in our region and a new generation of talent choosing to build their careers here. It's a powerful combination that's helping to fuel our economic growth," Kooyenga said in a statement. The metro-Milwaukee area is a key economic engine for Wisconsin, and the state overall has been experiencing high levels of employment and wage growth for months. In January the state hit a record high of employment with roughly 3,076,500 people working, according to the state Department of Workforce Development. On July 17, DWD announced the state had 3,055,000 people employed in the state and the unemployment rate at 3.2%, which is below the national unemployment rate of 4.1%. The state's workforce participation rate decreased slightly to 62.3% which is still 2.8% higher than the national average. Despite the decrease in jobs compared to the start of the year, total nonfarm jobs increased 5,500 over the month and 19,500 over the year according to the July release from DWD. This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Metro Milwaukee arearanked No. 2 for recent graduates seeking jobs
ABC News
2 days ago
- Business
- ABC News
Student debt cut legislation before parliament today
As parliament returns for the first time since the election the university sector will be front and centre with the government introducing its student debt relief legislation today. The laws will cut debts by 20 per cent with graduates to avoid repayments kicking in until they're earning at least 67-thousand dollars a year.
The Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- The Independent
Top tips for Gen Z job hunters – and why it's not all doom and gloom
UK unemployment has risen to its highest rate in four years at 4.7 per cent, with job vacancies falling to a decade low of 727,000 between April and June. Young people, especially graduates, are facing the toughest job market since 2018, drawing parallels to the author's experience during the 2008 financial crash. The rise of artificial intelligence is significantly impacting entry-level jobs, with a nearly one-third reduction in such roles since ChatGPT 's launch. Increased labour costs, including higher national insurance contributions and the minimum wage, are also contributing to employers reducing headcounts. Current difficulties are due to economic conditions rather than individual failings.
