I live, and went to university, in Northern Ireland, where as far as I know there have historically been more graduates per head of population than in the rest of the UK. Ironically, graduate jobs here are few and far between (with the exception obviously of medicine, law etc), and as a result the real 'currency' when job hunting is experience. In my second year of university I attended the careers dept to be told that to have any hope of graduate level employment, I would really have little choice but to move to England. This wasn't a possibility for me (although I would dearly love to have done so) and so I sat through the second half of my degree not really enjoying it, knowing that I was doomed at the end, but scared to drop out, as I had always been taught that no one likes a quitter.
A degree is relatively simple to get, but I found it impossible to get into my preferred field of work because I had no experience. In about ten years of searching, I did not see a single entry level job in the field I wanted to work in, every single vacancy, even the minimum wage ones, specified a minimum of two years experience. So, I would say there are twin problems at play - that of too many graduates, and that of unrealistic expectations by employers. I have never come across an employer who values the mythical 'transferrable skills', in general job ads specify very clearly that 'applicants must have x number of years experience doing X job' and that's that, no room for negotiation, no room for 'I haven't done this, but I would really love to learn to'. And yet, for all that, I hear business representatives on TV and radio all the time complaining that they can't find people with skills to fill the vacancies they have. Maybe if employers were more willing to support people who are willing to learn (and I don't necessarily mean financially), the jobs market would be better all round, degrees or no degrees.