Graduates 'resisting the lure of the big smoke'

Graduates 'resisting the lure of the big smoke'

23.7.2008

Graduates from British universities are becoming less keen to live and work in London, the latest figures indicate.

Online recruitment sees hundreds of university leavers find work in the 'big smoke' but more than one-third of graduates have ruled out the possibility of moving to the capital this year.

This is up from just over a quarter last year but the south-east of England as a whole is still viewed as a hotspot for graduate employment, according to online recruitment firm the Milkround.

Overall the past 12 months have seen an 11 per cent decline in the number of graduates who want to head straight to London to start their working lives but this is still the case for 60 per cent of university leavers in the UK.

Mike Barnard from Milkround said: "As the realities of a recession sink in, even more graduates may well shy away from working in London where the cost of living is known to be potentially higher than anywhere else in the UK."

A report from accountancy firm KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Cionfederati9on recently suggested that the jobs market for graduates in the UK is becoming increasingly competitive.

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