One in eight school-leavers who went straight into work have got jobs ‘only open to graduates’

One in eight youngsters who started their careers straight from school have worked their way up to take jobs normally open only to graduates, official figures suggest.

Some 54 per cent of graduates aged 22 to 29, or 1,276,336 people, hold graduate-level jobs. However, work at the same level is done by 327,303 people of the same age who do not have a degree or higher qualification.

Many successful non-graduates have reached managerial grades in retail and supermarket chains, or in sales jobs, the Office for National Statistics found.

Others are earning more than graduates because they have learned skills or trades in apprenticeships or on the job.

‘The highest-paid non-graduate roles are in skilled trades – these may earn more because their qualifications match the industry they work in and they have greater access to training on the job,’ the ONS reported. ‘Young people working in skilled trades have seen the greatest pay increase at 11 per cent,’ it added.

Those skilled trades include plumbers, electricians and bricklayers. Other typical good non-graduate jobs include sales accounts and business development managers earning an average of £33,119, while business sales executives earn £24,481 and human resources and industrial relations officers average £26,319 a year.

Other skilled jobs include that of plumbers, electricians and bricklayers 

Around 17 per cent of non-graduates are classed as ‘economically inactive’. However, only 6 per cent of graduates between the ages of 22 and 29 are not working at all.

Evidence of the success of young people who chose not to go through higher education comes at a time of growing questions at the wisdom of running up huge debts just to get a degree.