Under‐employment among recent graduates: a review of the literature

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to offer a systematic review of the literature that explores under‐employment among recent graduates. Literature from a range of disciplines is reviewed in an attempt to further a theoretical understanding. In doing this, the secondary aim is to identify avenues for future research.Design/methodology/approachThe paper adopts a systematic literature review methodology to answer the question “What is graduate underemployment?”FindingsThe review highlights significant issues around the conceptualisation and measurement of graduate under‐employment. It argues that individual volition and meaning making are important issues that to date remain under‐researched in relation to graduate under‐employment. The paper argues that the most appropriate basis for developing a theoretical understanding of graduate under‐employment is to draw upon relevant theoretical frameworks from career studies – specifically those on the objective‐subjective duality of career, career indecision, and career success. This approach provides a greater focus on the dynamics of the individual's experiences.Practical implicationsThis review has implications for a range of stakeholders including students, graduates, teachers and careers advisers, parents, universities, employers, HR professionals and policy makers.Originality/valueIn the context of policy debates surrounding the purpose and value of higher education, this review brings together the highly fragmented perspectives on a phenomenon that encapsulates many of the issues being debated.

The changing graduate labour market: analysis using a new indicator of graduate jobs

“…Existing classifications are used by career advisers, human resource service companies, policymakers, and journalists (e.g. ONS 2013; Scurry and Blenkinsopp 2011;Milburn 2009;Groom 2013), as well as by researchers studying high-skilled labour markets and graduate overeducation. But no consensus exists as to what constitutes a graduate job.…”

Genres of Underemployment: A Dialogical Analysis of College Graduate Underemployment

“…Either a person has a job or that person does not. Underemployment is more complicated in this regard, for while one can point to objective criteria such as pay, hours worked, and education-job congruence, there is also an array of subjective factors that are important in defining underemployment (Scurry & Blenkinsopp, 2011). Before examining these distinctions, a general definition of underemployment is required.…”

Returning from earning: UK graduates returning to postgraduate study, with particular respect to STEM subjects, gender and ethnicity

“…forensic science, which produces more graduates each year than the total jobs in the discipline: Tobin 2011) or geographical location (see Mosca and Wright 2011b). In the long run, this 'opportunity trap' sees previously non-graduate occupations redefined as graduates come to predominate and blurring the lines between the objective and subjective forms of underemployment (Scurry and Blenkinsopp 2011).…”

“…Smetherham (2006) provides similar evidence based on the perceptions of graduates, finding around one-in-five felt that they were qualified for, and capable of, more demanding work. Indeed, Scurry and Blenkinsopp's (2011) review of the literature suggests that there are both objective and subjective elements to underemployment -a sense in which some jobs are inherently 'non-graduate' (see Elias and Purcell 2004), while other jobs may cause the graduate to feel that they are working below their qualification or ability level.…”