Graduates from disadvantaged families: Early labour market experiences

While the expansion of Higher Education has resulted in an increase in the numbers of disadvantaged young people attending university, the benefits of participation are unclear. This report focuses on the young people’s progress from full-time study into the graduate labour market. It highlights the difficulties they encounter and the different types of employment gained. The authors consider whether the time and money the young people invested in Higher Education has paid off in terms of the standards of education achieved, employment outcomes, and the young people’s perceptions of themselves, their careers and their lives in general.

Graduates from disadvantaged families is essential reading for careers advisers, recruitment personnel, and researchers with an interest in Higher Education and the graduate labour market. It will also be valuable reading for academics, practitioners and policy makers in the fields of education, social policy, youth and labour market studies.

Two earlier reports, also published by The Policy Press, are Losing out? Socioeconomic disadvantage and experience in further and higher education (2003) and Socioeconomic disadvantage and access to higher education (2000).