Graduates finding Scottish jobs market tougher to crack

There has been a drop in the number of Scottish graduates finding permanent jobs in Scotland, an official survey has found.

People who completed their university courses last year were asked to say what had happened to them six months later.

Data from the chief statistician shows there was a 0.7% rise to 88.5% in the proportion of graduates from all countries who had found work or begun further study compared to the previous year, while the unemployment rate fell 0.5% to 5.9%.

But there was a 2.9% drop to 75.7% in the proportion who were employed in Scotland.

Of those Scottish graduates who had a permanent job, 88.6% were working in Scotland. That was down 1.7% on the previous year. There was also a 5.1% fall to 43.6% in the proportion of Scottish graduates who had studied in other parts of the UK and who were in permanent jobs in Scotland.

The survey found that 62.3% of Scots who completed their postgraduate or first degree courses last year were employed in graduate level jobs. That was 0.7% down.