A recent study from the Federal Parliamentary Budget found around half of university graduates are overqualified for their jobs.
Youth unemployment rate is just over 13 per cent and recent graduates struggling to find jobs in their fields, more and more students are being encouraged to learn a trade and go to college.
An analysis done by the Federal Parliamentary Budget Office found a decline in the rate of young graduates with jobs that match their education level. The research found the country’s over-qualification rate among university grads aged 25 to 34 climbed to 40 per cent last year, up from about 32 per cent in 1991.
Over the same period, the study says, the proportion of grads employed in positions that matched their credentials decreased to 55 per cent from 62 per cent. On top of that, the study said graduates take on added costs to obtain a university education, such as missing out on work experience and wages they could have earned in the labor force.
The report found college graduates have fared better in recent years—their over-qualification rate dropped to 34 per cent last year from 37 per cent in 2006. The proportion of recent college grads that held positions matching their education level reached 50 per cent in 2014, up from 45 per cent in 1998.
The report noted its methodology only used level of education to measure credentials and did not incorporate factors such as work experience and job-market demand.
While a new report says a growing proportion of recent university graduates face the potential frustration of being overqualified for their jobs, Darren Mundt, operations manager at Carleton’s Co-op and Career Services ensures these kinds of reports are “very generalized” and “like to think short term, rather than long term.”
“According to this study, over 50 per cent of university graduates are still properly qualified for the jobs they currently have, and the study says nothing about what they did to get there. Succeeding, especially with university, is about reaching out and taking advantage of all of the opportunities around you,” he said.
“At the end of the day what’s going to set you apart is going to be your qualifications, your experiences, your personality and your networking capabilities, all of which a university will provide you with.”
Carleton offers a variety of opportunities in the shape of internships, job postings, workshops, and counselling sessions designed to help students figure out who they are, prepare them for the real world and meet their career expectations.
“One thing we are trying to do is get more programs, streams, concentrations and different variations of various degree programs into our co-op office. I know that psychology and cognitive sciences are pretty recent, and just two of our many recent additions into the co-op program,” said Mikaela Stevenson, Career Services and Media personnel at Carleton and recent graduate.
According to Mundt, a majority of management and entry level position’s sole requirement is a university degree.
“University plans five years ahead of time, even 10 years ahead of time. The question [undergraduates] have to ask [themselves] is this: with a college degree, you’ll be working in your field alongside other graduates with college degrees, and they’ll all be equally as qualified. But in five years, in ten years, do you still want to be working alongside those same college kids—or over them?”
