Are graduates not making their employers any money these days?

Question

...because graduate starting salaries haven't even kept pace with inflation, never mind the housing boom which makes inflation barely relevant for the young starting out in life.

Answer 1

Snap on that. I'm a recent graduate too, and i've found that the average starting salaries for graduate jobs are about £18k; 20k if you're lucky.

Some (very, very few) pay good money. If you are lucky enough to get int oinvestment banking or work for a stockbroker, graduate starting money can be ridiculously good. I have heard of £20k half yearly bonuses not being uncommon.

Otherwise, working for "unfashionable" companies, they pay huge amounts. Mars pays up to £30k, while ALDI pays around £37,000 + a company car. Thats STARTING money for a graduate and i can confirm it is that amount - my mate works for them and he is loaded! - already bought himself a house (with parents help!)

Basically the "standard" jobs pay sh*te. In terms of job progression (and future earning potential), i wouldnt know. It does seem to make the majority of degrees pointless - you;d probably have earned just as much if you had left school at 16...

Jobs in the media are the worst (what i am looking for). Because the market is so saturated with people/graduates, most jobs in a media environment only average about £30k - and thats at SENIOR levels....

Answer 2

Graduates are churned out 10 a penny nowadays. Having a degree doesn't actually seem to mean anything anymore. Employers know that they can give a low salary to people who need to get on the ladder. Pretty awful considering how expensive everyting is! Only chance of getting into the housing market - marry someone rich!

Answer 3

I think one of the problems is that there are so many graduates now.
When I was young, graduates could almost always walk into really well paid jobs. But we were a small proportion of the population of 21-year-olds - less than 5%.

Nowadays we're getting close to 50% of young people getting degrees.
This is bound to devalue degrees in the eyes of employers.
Unless you've got a "good" degree from a "good" university you're stuffed.

Answer 4

Most don't. Employers have to average their risk/reward across all their entry level employees. As a hiring manager, I can attest that for every good employee I want to keep in the company and give more responsibility to, there are several who are not a good fit for one reason or another.

And even the good employees need time to pick up the skill set and learn the job-specific knowledge, which means they are earning more than they are worth for a period of time, probably about 3-6 months depending on the job.

Answer 5

the young starting out and not being able to afford a house is nothing new
the American dream of home ownership has been out of the reach of most for many, many, many years

As for not making any $- the economy is rather shaky and people just aren't spending frivolously