Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the number of graduate-level jobs currently available, and whether the increased use of artificial intelligence is affecting those employment opportunities.

Data from the Department for Education (Graduate labour market statistics, Calendar year 2024 - Explore education statistics - GOV.UK) shows that graduates aged 16-64 years old in 2024 in England continue to have high employment rates, which exceed the employment rates of non-graduates:

• 87.6% of graduates are in employment – unchanged on 2023.
• 90.0% of postgraduates are in employment – up 0.6 percentage points on 2023.
• 68.0% of non-graduates are in employment – down 0.7 percentage points on 2023.

Graduates are also more likely than non-graduates to be in high-skilled work than non-graduates and the proportion of working-age graduates in high-skilled work has increased on the year:

• 67.9% of graduates were in high-skilled work – up 1.1 percentage points on the year.
• 79.0% of postgraduates were in high-skilled work – up 0.2 percentage points on the year.
• 23.7% of non-graduates were in high-skilled work – up 0.1 percentage points on the year.

This data also refers to people who are aged 16-64 years old in England in 2024. High-skilled employment is defined as being in Standard Occupational Classification 2020 major occupation groups 1-3.

The Office for National Statistics publish data on labour demand by occupation and how it is changing over time, which can be found here:

Labour demand volumes by Standard Occupation Classification (SOC 2020), UK - Office for National Statistics

Textkernel new online job adverts - Office for National Statistics

No current assessment has been made on the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on graduate job opportunities.

The Department for Education has published research on the potential impact of AI on different occupations:

GOV.UK Impact of AI on UK jobs and training