Experts are predicting doom and gloom for those graduating in the summer 2009 writes Joanne Babbage, employment producer at BBC News.
However it is not just 2009 graduates who are in trouble
Official figures from the Office for National Statistics, specially analysed for the BBC, show that 36,000 students who graduated in 2008 were still unemployed in the first quarter of 2009.
That figure makes up just over 12% of all those who graduated in 2008.
Add to that all those in temporary and part time jobs and you've already got tens of thousands of educated youngsters chasing a shrinking graduate jobs market.
That compares to an unemployment rate for all young people between 18 and 24 of 16.1% in the three months to the end of March, a sharp increase from 12.6% just one year ago.
Experts indeed predict there will be a 5% drop in jobs for new graduates this summer.
What should graduates do?
So, what about the advice given by Carl Gilleard, the chief executive of the Association of Graduate Recruiters?
He is on record saying they should lower their sights and that "almost any work is better than not working at all".
Ian Craig, a journalism graduate from Cardiff University, has accepted a job where a degree is not a requirement.
However, he is worried that his job as a bank cashier is ruining his career prospects.
"I got the job through a temping agency after I'd applied for hundreds of graduate schemes and got absolutely nowhere. This was only meant to be a stop-gap but eleven months later I'm still here," he says.
The role is full time so it means Ian cannot do any unpaid work experience in his chosen field.
Journalism is an industry notorious for giving people work experience on the job for little or no cash.
"I feel like I'm in a Catch-22 situation. I can't afford to give up this job but if I don't give up the job I won't be able to get any journalism experience," he adds.
"It's all well and good telling graduates to take any work but what happens when it gets in the way of pursuing the career you actually studied for?"
Graduate discrimination?
Some graduates might argue that Ian is one of the lucky ones.
At least he is earning some money and gaining valuable work experience, even if it is not in his chosen career.
Hayley Thomas from Port Talbot has just decided to stop claiming Jobseekers Allowance despite still being jobless. She is fed up of feeling like just another unemployment statistic by a system she says is not designed to cater for graduates.
BBC News Online 2009
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