MORE than half of all British graduates are forced to take jobs that do not require a degree as the job market reaches “saturation point,” new figures revealed yesterday.

According to a report by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development, thousands of university leavers are being left no option but to take non-graduate jobs.

Student representatives demanded more initiative from the government in creating job opportunities for the “country’s talent.”

Young Greens co-chair Siobhan MacMahon said both the education system and the Tories’ economic policies were “utterly failing” young people.

“While the economy is increasingly geared towards low-skilled, low-paid jobs, a degree — now with an average price tag of over £50,000 — is becoming the only valued form of education,” she said.

“Our generation of graduates is now facing a triple bind — entering our adult lives with unprecedented levels of debt, a chronic shortage of degree-level jobs and the steady withdrawal of state support for those of us who struggle to find work.”

The report showed that almost 60 per cent of graduates in Britain moved on to jobs for which they were overqualified. The figure in countries investing in vocational training tends to be 10 per cent or less.

It added that the rate of graduate workers for high-skilled jobs available was “particularly pronounced in the UK,” a country where more than half of all university-goers graduate.

With few other options available within further education National Union of Students vice-president Sorana Vieru asked: “Where else can young people go to further their career prospects but higher education?”