Unemployment isn't the only problem faced by Britain's young graduates. Meet underemployment: people with degrees working in low-paid, unstable or non-graduate jobs, counted as employed while their careers stall before they have properly started.
This is becoming less of an exception and more of a baseline reality for parts of a generation entering the labour market. Work exists, but it often does not lead anywhere. Full-time stability is replaced by shift patterns, short-term contracts, and roles that sit far below the qualification level.
Ethan, 23, a University of Manchester graduate is working part-time in hospitality while trying to break into his field.
'I'm grateful to have a job, but I can't see myself being able to build a future working a handful of shifts a week for minimum wage.'
What makes it harder is how easily this kind of work becomes a barrier rather than a bridge.
'I worry about the ramifications of this employment situation on my chances at getting a graduate job, or even any job in my field anytime soon. Recruiters see the CV gaps or unrelated work experience and it weakens my application.'
For young people in this position, employment does not function as progression. It functions as survival.
Locked Out of Entry-Level Work
For graduates, the problem starts before a career has even begun. The transition out of university is no longer a clear move into entry-level professional work, but a prolonged process of competing for roles that are increasingly scarce and difficult to secure.
Even internships, placements, and field-relevant experience are no longer a reliable route in. Many graduates now enter a cycle of applications for roles that demand prior experience, with limited progression from short-term or entry-level positions into stable employment.
Azzurra, 21, a King's College London graduate, reflects a shift in how young people are forced to think about work itself.
'Because of this, I think there's value in pursuing something you genuinely care about. If you're going to face years of uncertainty and competition, it may as well be doing something you love rather than ending up in a role you never really wanted.'
Her comment captures a wider recalibration among graduates, where long-term plans are replaced with shorter-term decisions shaped by uncertainty rather than trajectory.
Over-qualification and Stalled Progression
Data from the Office for National Statistics show that graduates in the early years after university are increasingly likely to be overqualified for the roles they enter, with many working in positions that do not fully utilise their skills. Employers across multiple sectors have also raised experience requirements for junior roles, narrowing access to genuinely entry-level work.
For those who do enter the labour market with advanced qualifications, the issue often shifts rather than disappears.
Jenny, 27, holds a PhD in neuroimaging. Her current role sits far below that level.
'My current job doesn't require a PhD or even a degree, really, but it's been three years since I had a research job, so there's probably no going back at this point. It's kind of shocking, really.'
Sam, 25, describes a similar sense of disconnection.
'I am working as a learning support assistant after a Master's in education and three years of experience in the educational sector. It really feels like I'm losing my previous knowledge.'
What connects these accounts is not simply over-qualification, but the underuse of accumulated expertise, where education and experience exist, but are no longer being built on in practice.
Over time, this creates a labour market where progression becomes uneven, and the development of mid-level expertise is weakened as fewer workers move steadily through roles that build long-term capability.
Structural Mismatch and Stalled Beginnings
The Higher Education Statistics Agency reports that a significant proportion of graduates are not in graduate-level employment within 15 months of finishing their degree. The Resolution Foundation has also warned that early career outcomes carry long-term weight, with underemployment linked to weaker wage growth and slower progression over time.
Far from being a temporary detour, underemployment can alter the trajectory of a graduate's working life.
For many graduates, this shapes early adulthood in immediate ways. Income instability makes renting independently harder, saving slower, and financial planning more uncertain. Milestones that once followed graduation as a matter of course now feel increasingly out of reach.
A Gap in How Britain Measures Work
Unemployment figures suggest stability. Yet underemployment tells a different story, where work exists but progression is uneven and increasingly difficult to access.
For many young people, the first job is no longer the start of a career, but the point where movement slows before it has fully formed.
What remains is a growing gap between how the labour market is measured and how it is experienced. For a generation entering adulthood, that gap is shaping not just jobs, but the pace and possibilities of life itself.
