Black graduates are three times more likely to be unemployed than white graduates six months of finishing university, it has emerged.

The worrying statistic was highlighted during this week’s BBC Panorama ‘Jobs for the boys?’ in which former footballer Sol Campbell investigated the complex reasons behind the high unemployment rates among black men in the UK. The statistic came from a study last year which also found that black graduates who do find work can expect to earn up to nine per cent less for the same work as a white graduate over five years.

The Deloitte-backed study, carried out by think tank Bow Group and youth employment charity Elevation Networks, was based on interviews with 2,500 students over two years. It found that black students were not being given the same opportunities as white students.

Samuel Kasumu, founder of Elevation Networks, said the findings were deeply worrying, saying:

“We found black students are concerned about what their future once they graduate. Many of them believe the odds are firmly stacked against them. There are particular challenges when it comes to those students who are considering a career in financial services, legal services, government, and media, which is very concerning.”

Black graduate Kyle Parris studied electrical and electronic engineering at Liverpool John Moores University, and had hoped his degree would give him a good start in a career in engineering. But four years after graduating he is still without a paid job. He told Panorama:

“I’m still applying now. I have done work experience for companies, where I have worked for 30 hours a week for eight weeks and never received payment – for free. So that shows that I’ve got eagerness and I am willing to work – I just want the chance. Just give me a chance.”

Graduate Fog knows that it is difficult for graduates from any background to find decent, well-paid, permanent jobs right now. As Sol Campbell highlighted in the Panorama, the reasons for the particularly high unemployment rate among certain groups are complex – and working out what’s really going wrong isn’t easy as there are so many factors involved. But we feel strongly that much more research and discussion is needed in order to get to the bottom of why black graduates seem to be struggling so much more than any other group.

*WHY ARE BLACK GRADUATES STRUGGLING TO FIND WORK?
Are employers just plain racist? Or are there further reasons why black graduates are struggling to get their careers started? What has been your experience of applying for jobs – and has your success or failure had anything to do with your skin colour? If they are at a disadvantage, should graduates from certain ethnic backgrounds be given extra help and support when entering the job market after university, or would that be unfair on everyone else?

Black graduates 3x more likely to be jobless six months after uni is a post from: Graduate Fog

Graduates who spot adverts for unpaid internships which appear to involve real work but pay less than the minimum wage can now report them to officials, politicians have announced.

Previously, only those who did unpaid internships could report their employer retrospectively, after their placement ended. This left the hundreds of thousands of young people unable to afford to work for free with no way to register their distress and frustration at being locked out of crucial opportunities which have become a must-have before being considered for many paid, permanent roles.

While it remains legal for employers to advertise roles that look dodgy, officials have promised to investigate all cases that are reported to them, in a bid to crack down on employers who break the minimum wage law and take advantage of young people who are so desperate for experience they are willing to work for free. It is not yet clear what will happen in these cases, but we assume that employers will be warned against running the internship, as that would be illegal.

The move to make it easier to report adverts for unpaid internships was announced alongside plans to increase awareness among students and graduates about the facts on internships. Currently, only 10% of graduates even know that unpaid internships are illegal, as most universities are failing to pass on crucial information to their students. Politicians said that students and graduates must be warned about the dangers of doing unpaid internships and given better advice about their rights. It is unclear at this stage whether this information will be distributed by universities – many of which advertise unpaid internships themselves.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) says it is planning to take more aggressive steps to clamp down on those who offer unpaid internships, following years of criticism from campaigners – like Graduate Fog and Intern Aware – that is has not done enough to protect the young people who do unpaid work from being exploited and those who can’t afford to do them from being excluded. BIS says that over the coming year it will launch a social media campaign, publish a student handout and encourage people to name bad employers for investigation.

The news came as it was announced that in the last year HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) has helped 167 people who identified themselves as interns, volunteers or work experience workers claw back nearly £200,000 in unpaid wages. They seem to think this is a lot – but readers of Graduate Fog will know that 167 is only the tip of the iceberg, as it is estimated that over 100,000 graduates intern unpaid every year. Hundreds of thousands more are excluded from these placements – which often last several months – simply because they can’t afford to work for free.

In a letter to Labour MP Hazel Blears, the employment relations minister Jo Swinson said the government would produce a booklet to make graduates aware of their employment rights in time for this summer, when hundreds of thousands of UK students and graduates are expected to start hunting for work experience placements, which can last – unpaid – for many months.

The Lib Dem minister also confirmed that calls involving unpaid internship abuse made to the government’s pay and work rights helpline would be fast-tracked and that those being exploited could claim back pay for placements from the previous six years. Would-be future interns would also be asked to report possible employment abuse if they see adverts for long term unpaid positions, she said.

In a letter that went out earlier this month, Blears – who earlier this year called for it to be made illegal to advertise unpaid internships – urged her fellow MPs to stop advertising the positions because they were “taking advantage of the drive and commitment of young people”. She said that expecting them “to live and work for free is exploitative, unfair and just plain wrong”.

Speaking to the Guardian, Blears pointed out that unpaid internships had recently been advertised by members of all parties, most prominently Simon Hughes, deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats. She warned that it could be only a matter of time before an MP was sued under national minimum wage laws for using unpaid labour.

However, Blears said she believed progress was being made. “I think we are seeing progress in terms of culture change,” she said, adding that there had been a drop in overall numbers of unpaid placements being advertised for MPs. “All of that pressure is having an effect,” Blears said. Jo Swinson added:

“The law on the national minimum wage is clear. If somebody on a work experience placement or internship is a worker under NMW legislation, then they are entitled to the minimum wage. Internships can be a valuable way of helping young people get into work and realise their ambitions. Anyone who feels they are being exploited should contact the Pay and Work Rights Helpline on 0800 917 2368. Their call will be fast-tracked to HMRC who actively investigate any claims of NMW abuse.”

Graduate Fog welcomes this move, which finally empowers those who can’t afford to work for free to fight back against employers who refuse to pay their young staff a fair wage for their work. Remember, if you see an advert that appears to involve real work, set hours and set responsibilities and the employer is not a charity, it is likely that the internship is illegal and you should report it. Graduate Fog will be following this development closely, so if you report and internship, please keep all your correspondence and contact us to let us know what happened.

*IS IT ABOUT TIME THE GOVERNMENT GETS TOUGH OVER INTERNSHIPS?
What do you think of the politician’s promise to do more to clamp down on employers who exploit their interns – and exclude those who can’t afford to work for free. If you’ve interned unpaid, will you consider reporting your employer? And if you can’t afford to work for free, will you start reporting adverts you see that appear to break the law?

Can’t afford to intern unpaid? Just pick up the phone and complain! is a post from: Graduate Fog

NOW JUST 3% OF JUNIOR JOURNALISTS HAVE WORKING CLASS PARENTS

The majority of young people entering journalism today are from middle class ‘professional’ families, in what is becoming an increasingly socially exclusive career, a new survey has found.

According to the ‘Journalists at Work 2012′ study by the journalism body NCTJ, 65% of those who manage to break into the industry have a parent who is a professional, a manager or a director. (That’s nearly two thirds.) Just 3 percent of new journalists come from a family of ‘unskilled’ workers.

The findings are unlikely to surprise readers of Graduate Fog, many of whom are battling to enter journalism but finding they are required to do endless unpaid (or very low paid) internships before they will even be considered for paid jobs – even ‘cover’ or shift work. Not only are those who take these unpaid internships exploited – those who can’t afford to do them are excluded.

As a result social class is having a huge impact on the social background of people successfully breaking into journalism. Unpaid internships are common and the majority of new journalists say unpaid internships are a prerequisite if you want to break into this competitive industry. Four in five (83%) of young journalists said they had to do some work experience before getting their first job and, of those, a whopping 92% were unpaid for their work experience. The average placement lasted seven weeks, but many were far longer.

The industry’s endemic use of junior, unpaid staff has inevitably led to a situation where new journalists need family support to fund their careers. So it’s not shocking that many have parents who can afford to help, and those that don’t find they simply can’t compete. Journalism would benefit from a more diverse workforce. A newsroom needs people from all parts of society to thrive and produce balanced, inquisitive editorial. Unfortunately for many young people, it seems journalism is no longer a feasible career choice. For a career once considered a trade where anyone willing to work hard could work their way up the ladder, it is becoming more dependant on your parent’s social standing and wealth.

Want to read the full report? Click here: http://www.nctj.com/about-us/research

*ARE YOU BATTLING TO BREAK IN TO JOURNALISM?
How are you getting on? Have you been able to take unpaid internships – and have these led to a paid job? If you haven’t been able to work unpaid, what options have you been left with? Do you agree that it’s important that journalists come from a diverse range of social backgrounds? What are the wider dangers to society if it is true that you now have to be ‘posh’ to even stand a chance of becoming a journalists?

Not posh? Good luck becoming a journalist is a post from: Graduate Fog

The risk of young singles having less than 50% of the income required for an adequate standard of living has nearly doubled, a new study has shown.

In recent years, the percentage of single under-35s surviving on under half of what they need has increased from 9 to 17 per cent. This was also the group that saw the fastest increase in worklessness during the period, suggesting the general economic context is a major driver of this trend.

The study – by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation – looked at the early part of the recession, from 2008–2010. It found that the living standards of families with children – both couples and lone parents – were holding up pretty well, despite this group having the highest risk of a less than adequate standard of living.

The report states:

“The group that emerged from this analysis as the one to be worried about is single people without children, living alone – especially those below the age of 35. This is a very diverse group, but it is one that saw a big downward shift in living standards and some serious increases in people experiencing hardship.

“These are people likely to face severe hardship, relying mainly on benefits which provide only about 40 per cent of the income needed to meet an adequate standard of living.”

The study also highlighted the fact that those on low incomes – including young singles – are feeling the pinch disproportionately. Inflation is being felt most strongly by this group because the prices of items most prominent in a basic household budget, such as food and heating costs, have been rising faster than average. For this reason, low-income groups started to feel the effects of stagnant wages and rising prices earlier than others, and could go on feeling it for longer into the future.

*Are you single and struggling?
Is your income enough to survive on? What do you think of this report’s findings? Are single under-35s being forgotten amidst the politicians’ rhetoric about ‘hardworking families’?

Recession is pushing young singles into poverty is a post from: Graduate Fog

*GRADUATE FOG EXCLUSIVE!*

**Like this? Please Share and RT!**

Monster.co.uk has become the first major UK recruitment website to pledge publicly that it will not support the advertisement of unpaid internships. The job board has announced that all postings must comply with the minimum wage law and any which do not will be removed from the site. (So if you spot any, just let them know!)

Monster.co.uk’s announcement comes following the news that Hazel Blears’ bill to make advertising unpaid internships illegal missed its scheduled second hearing on 2 February and will now be delayed indefinitely. The voluntary move by Monster shows its commitment to taking the lead on the issue, by making it clear that it will remove any job postings that do not comply with the minimum wage law. Andrew Sumner, Monster’s Managing Director, UK & Ireland, says:

“Monster fully supported the bill Hazel Blears proposed to clamp down on the promotion of unpaid internships. A healthy future economy relies on the investment businesses make in young people and we believe it’s important not to take advantage of those desperate to get a foot on the career ladder.

“We provide free advice via our UK site to make employers aware of the legalities surrounding unpaid internships and to ensure job seekers know what to expect from these placements. As a bare minimum, we insist in our terms and conditions that all job posts adhere to UK employment law. We vet and screen adverts placed on our site to advise our customers on compliance. And as an extra precaution Monster actively asks its users to report any suspicious job postings via a ‘report this job’ button. We will happily remove any postings that our users alert us to, if these are found not to comply with the minimum wage law.”

As regular readers will know, Graduate Fog has felt strongly for some time that a blanket ban on advertising unpaid internships would be hugely helpful for our campaign to make all internships pay at least the minimum wage. For too long, seeing adverts for unpaid internships posted all over the internet has given both employers and young people the distorted impression that the practice is legal, when it isn’t.

At present, too many people (both young jobseekers and employers) say to campaigners like us “But unpaid internships can’t be illegal – I see them advertised everywhere.” Currently, the widespread presence of these adverts undermines our fight, confuses the message and legitimises this illegal and damaging practice, which has proved to be a disaster for young jobseekers. We believe that removing these adverts would remove this confusion. Unfortunately, despite cross party support for Hazel Blears’ 10-minute rule bill suggesting these adverts be banned, its hearing seems to have been delayed indefinitely, after time ran out during its allocated session on 2 February.

Perhaps cynically, we had assumed that the recruitment websites would resist this move, claiming the quality, ethics and legality of the roles they advertise is not their responsibility. So we are impressed that Monster.co.uk is supporting young people by making it clear that unpaid internships that appear to break the minimum wage law will be removed from its site. The next question is: will the other job boards follow?

*NEXT! Find out what happens when we ask Milkround, TotalJobs, TargetJobs and the other big job boards to follow Monster’s lead! Follow us on Twitter @GraduateFog or find us on Facebook/GraduateFog. Or you can sign up to the Graduate Fog News Bundle (see right).

*ARE YOU IMPRESSED THAT MONSTER IS BACKING INTERNS?
Or is it long overdue? Should other websites do the same thing? Do recruitment websites have a responsibility not to facilitate the exploitation of young people – or is that purely down to employers? And should Hazel Blears try harder to get her 10-minute rule bill heard in Parliament, so that advertising unpaid internships is officially made illegal? PLEASE comment below to say what you think, as other job boards will be watching this space. Brief is fine!

Monster: “We will remove adverts for unpaid internships” is a post from: Graduate Fog

The BBC is looking for job-seeking graduates to take part in a new documentary about the graduate jobs crisis.

The producers have assured Graduate Fog that the programme – which will air on BBC3 – will not be like Channel 4′s The Intern or E4′s The Work Experience, both of which have been widely criticised by users of this website for exploiting young jobseekers for entertainment value.

Instead, the programme-makers are keen to tell the real story of youth unemployment – by interviewing bright, articulate graduates who are struggling to find work since leaving university despite getting a good degree and doing all the right things to land a good graduate job.

Intrigued? If you’d like to find out more, call Lauren on 020 8008 4984 or email lauren.vanderkar @bbc.co.uk Thanks!

BBC3 seeks job-hunting grads for new documentary is a post from: Graduate Fog

WHAT HAVE YOU LEARNED SINCE YOU LEFT UNI? 

For many graduates, the period straight after leaving university can be pretty tough – but by now you’ve probably learned a lot more than you realise (yes, really!). Do you agree that you’re wiser than you were when you graduated? What do you know now that you wish you’d twigged before you finished uni?

Perhaps you got sucked in by unpaid internships that led nowhere – or decided to ditch job hunting techniques that weren’t working for you for ones that do. Did you put all your faith in recruitment agencies who never called? Or has your interview technique been polished beyond recognition? What has shocked you – and what has turned out to be a nice surprise? With hundreds of thousands more students set to graduate this summer, what are the gems that they really need to know?

Debate: What do you wish you’d known before you graduated? is a post from: Graduate Fog

Big brands that have been brazenly advertising unpaid internships – and the big job boards that carry these adverts – were feeling the heat today as a list of 100 big companies who have been publicly recruiting unpaid interns has been passed to HMRC for investigation.

Campaigners Intern Aware, who compiled the secret list of firms, told Graduate Fog that they have already been contacted by several companies concerned that their names were on it, and warning of legal action if they are named publicly. So far, the names of the companies – and the job boards where the adverts were placed – have not been identified. But Intern Aware has confirmed that the list includes a large number of household name brands – although this list is ‘just the tip of the iceberg’. The group’s co-founder Gus Baker told Graduate Fog:

“This list has definitely rattled employers. I’ve just got off the phone from one well-known brand desperate to know if their name is on the list, and threatening legal action if they are named publicly.

“Employers who know they have been taking advantage of their young staff are panicking – and word seems to be spreading that unpaid internships could create a major headache for employers in the future, as more and more interns come forward to claim the back pay they are owed. Most of the ads were taken from large job sites, which are also becoming increasingly concerned about negative publicity from effectively facilitation the exploitation of young people.

“Our hope is that this list will prompt all employers to check their policy on paying their interns. The must make sure they are operating within UK employment law and paying all their staff at least the national minimum wage for their work.”

The list was passed to HMRC by junior employment minster Jo Swinson, after a meeting with HMRC. Ben Lyons, the other co-founder of Intern Aware, said the group was able to compile its list of suspect companies simply by trawling jobs websites or searching online for “unpaid internship”. The campaigners sought the meeting with Swinson to explain their frustration that HMRC had so far failed to acknowledge the scale and severity of the problem. While it is illegal to have unpaid interns working for you, it is currently not illegal to advertise unpaid internships.

*IS THE BALANCE FINALLY SHIFTING FOR INTERNS?
Are you pleased this list has been submitted – and do you think it will make employers think twice before taking on unpaid interns? Do think anything will come from the HMRC investigation, or do you fear the list be buried? Should it be made illegal to advertise unpaid internships?

Employers paranoid they are on ‘intern hit list’ passed to officials is a post from: Graduate Fog

Graduates who take ‘stop-gap’ jobs after finishing university because they can’t find a graduate role are being urged to move on quickly. New research shows that one in four who takes a non-graduate job – such as in retail, construction or catering – will find themselves employed in the same position in three and a half years’ time.

The figures from the New Employment Foundation, commissioned by the NUS and published yesterday, raise fresh concerns about the large number of graduates who are being forced to lower their aspirations and take any work they can get. The lesson is clear: if you do take one of these jobs, don’t get stuck. Keep looking for graduate roles and move on as soon as you can. The report said:

“Study leavers face a perfect storm. Underlying fractures in the labour market, such as pay polarisation, have surfaced.

“Even those with good graduate degrees are facing months of unemployment or free interning in order to gain access to paid work. Those with no or few qualifications are being left out in the cold.

“Study leavers face a rude awakening. Some will see low returns, at least in the short to medium term, to the personal and financial investment they have made in their education.

“Intense competition in the labour market has created a bumping-down effect where graduates are working in lower-skilled jobs and those who would have formerly taken these positions are further squeezed out of the labour market.

“While the situation seems easier for those graduating from Russell Group universities, the conditions are not ideal for anyone.”

Graduates are being badly affected by the problem of “under-employment”(where people want to work longer hours or in higher skilled jobs than they are) and an increase in “zero hour” contracts (where employees are asked to be available for work but with no guarantee that any will be available).

While prospects for entering low-paid or top-ranking jobs are improving, median paid jobs remain scarce. This would seem to fit with heated discussions on Graduate Fog about the split – and vast salary gap – between the high-paid and low-paid jobs that graduates end up doing.

But there was some good news – the reverse is true too. Researchers claimed “a strong positive relationship” between those employed in graduate jobs six months after leaving university and three years later.

*ARE YOU DOING A ‘STOP GAP’ JOB?
What is the job – and how long have you been doing it for? Are you still looking for a graduate job to move on to – or have you stopped hunting? Do you feel ‘under-employed’ – do you wish you were doing more skilled work, or longer hours? Or did you take the job as a short-term fix – and find you were happier than you expected to be in the role?

Pulling pints or waiting tables? Quit your stop-gap job NOW, graduates warned is a post from: Graduate Fog

Did you watch ‘The Intern’ last night? If you missed it, here’s what the critics said…

John Crace, The Guardian
“The Intern is basically the Apprentice by another name: a bunch of hopefuls jumping through fairly pointless hoops for the television cameras under the guise of competing for a job… Some of it was passably entertaining, but there wasn’t even a pretence at creating a level playing field by which to judge the contestants’ credentials.”

Tom Sutcliffe, The Independent
“Hilary does the boilerplate stuff about putting her name on the line but the truth is that she’s already besmirched her reputation by getting involved at all… I doubt that a jobless young person watching would have learnt anything useful about the world of work – the only possible excuse for a format that takes hopeful innocents and torments them for our entertainment.”

Florence Walters, The Telegraph
“We were set up for blood sport, but that’s not what we got. The Intern is The Apprentice for a generation facing the grim prospect that more than a million 18-24 year-olds are unemployed… The big disappointment was Devey. She proved oddly maternal and offered no genuinely helpful advice. There’s an irony here: Sugar’s iron fist gives The Apprentice its punch – and longevity – while Devey’s kindly manner may be the death of her own show.”

Andrew Billen, The Times
“Hilary Devey responded to the crisis in youth unemployment by setting three young jobless people to compete for a ‘managerial’ job at a five-star hotel. As if free internships are not humiliating enough, she employed actors to play ‘difficult’ guests, and then critiqued her supplicants if they failed to pacify them… Her credibility was denigrated the moment she signed on to this farrago.”

Matt Baylis, Daily Express
“I couldn’t help feeling that if the true motive was to give young people a fair go, the people behind the programme would surely have got Devey thinking up ways to train and employ lots of them, not just compering stunts reminiscent of Candid Camera for a trio in a Kensington hotel.”

*WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THE SHOW?
Entertaining, informative – or just pure mockery? Have your say by commenting below!

Hilary Devey’s ‘The Intern’ – What the critics said is a post from: Graduate Fog