to think things are going backward when I read news reports like this

[slightlygoostained]

m.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24771260

From the article:
" Young women are increasingly likely to be trapped in low-paid jobs such as shelf-stacking, the TUC has said.

According to a TUC report,the proportion of 16 to 24 year-old women doing low-skilled work has tripled over the last 20 years.

However, official figures indicate that young women are better qualified than young men."

How much has the population grown in this time?

Are men also likely to be trapped in these jobs?

m.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24771260
Cocked up the link.

maybe there just arent enough good jobs for all the well qualified young people?

That's grim.

My friend's daughter has been working as a shelf stacker at M and S for nearly a year now. She has a 2.1 in History and took 2 years to find this her first permanent job.

The majority of the staff in the store are also graduates. They run a great store. It just seems such a waste not to mention the debts that they run up as students which are not being repaid.

The full picture should include the fact that young men of that age are more likely to be unemployed than young women of that age.

Smoorikins, I wasnt aware of that...it does make the picture look rather different, just goes to show how misleading it is not to be given the full story!

The Labour lot expanded University education too much - not enough graduate jobs and too many mediocre graduates. This is being addressed now with increase in vocational training opportunities - though I know to praise Gove is Mumsnet heresy.