To think people are overeducated in the UK?

[Watdidusay]

I am raging about this too be honest and I'm not sure why.

One of the mums at the school apparently lost her corporate job 8 months ago. Found this out today when I ran into her in Lidl in the next town - she was working as a manager there.
We ended up talking later in the day and turns out four of the staff there have masters degrees or above (one has a PhD). Apparently this is a common thing people are doing now as they cant get jobs in their fields
AIBU to think we are completely over educating people in this country now?

Feeling angry I think as DS (18) tried so hard over the summer to get a job like this but am finding out now they are all being taken up by people with lots of degrees!

Are you taking the piss?
The amount of people in the UK who don’t know basic spelling and grammar or any general knowledge is astounding.

The number of people.

While there is evidence graduates being underemployed is getting worse, this isn't new.
There are many people who graduated decades back when it was grants who still ended up in work that didn't require a degree.
There are many people who graduated back when it was 3k a year who still ended up in work that didn't require a degree.
Not all of the UK charges tuition fees still so would have less debt, there are those who graduated from degree apprenticeships or cadetships where their fees are paid for and they get paid to do it by employers, and those who get their postgraduate degrees paid for, all can end up in work that doesn't require a degree.

So I just don't understand why take £100k of student loan debt out of general interest alone. - it's quite possible the mother working at LIDLs and/or some of the others didn't get into that debt and even if they did, there is no reason to think they got into that debt to go into work not related to their degree.

Student loans are only paid back if you're earning above the threshold for the Plan you're on - that's part of how young people are encouraged into it - they get told to take the risk with that debt, to treat it like a graduate tax instead of a debt, because if the promise of doing well at uni fails to get them a high paying job, well, they can ignore it and the public subsides it like many other things. Of all the things taxes subsidise, higher education is not on my radar to be annoyed about.

I work in an area that still technically only requires GCSEs. I don't know anyone who hasn't worked in it for over 30 years that doesn't have at least a degree. The most recent one on my team has a Masters in Law, proudly walks around with her alumni gear (and has been the slowest person to train, but that's another topic...), she won out over agency staff who'd been actually doing the job because she knew how to interview.

We're in a culture that no longer considers completing a secondary education to a Level 3 qualification as a 'full education' - with these and many other factors, it's no surprise there are many with degrees in jobs that don't technically require them. Yes this impacts the job market for everyone, it's hard for young people and anyone who wants to shift careers when qualifications are treated as the most essential in areas that until recently didn't have them or when they change drastically. I know quite a few who laugh bitterly at the recent Early Years adverts when there are qualifications that if you got them in one year count as Early Years qualifications and in the next year no longer do & the whole get qualified by experience is no where to be seen in many parts of the country.

It is frustrating, but even with young adult kids impacted by this, going through dozens of applications and interviews, I don't think raging on it helps them or anyone.

That’s why they don’t check it! It’s useless info. I think it should follow grads through 20 years or more.

They can only 'follow grads' if the grads are happy to do so and keep their contact details up to date.

As a country we're clearly not over-educated if you're on here making comments like that 🤣🤣🤣

Have you seen the size of student loans these days?

The country with the most educated workforce is Japan- they seem to manage - even shelf stackers and people working on factory lines have A levels or better. Better levels of education means a better society.
Unfortunately we have had governments for the last 50 years that are in love with keeping wages as low as possible- all our industries were closed down in the 1980's so there is far less work in the UK than there should be, plus we have allowed very free immigration which causes very serious wage suppression.
The problem isn't with education, it is with the employment market and immigration policy. There is no where near enough high quality jobs for the people who are qualified for them.

In September 1980 241 started senior school with me. Only one went to uni at 18. Some left as functional illiterates. I would estimate about 10 of them. Most went on to have good jobs, buy houses, raise kids and some even went back to education or got professional or technical qualifications.

So how are my school year over qualified?

Dozens! The norm is hundreds now

You’re not making much sense.

BlueJuniper "Farage was privately educated but is as thick as two planks".

I don't like the man's politcs but never thought he was as thick as two planks by any means.

He went to Dulwich College and that is a highly academic school, always has been. I know it well because my girls' school used to do some joint enterprises with Dulwich and lots of my fellow pupils had brothers there, some girls went out with Dulwich boys. That was before Farage's time, I'm older than him but I know they favour bright kids.

He went on to have a lucrative career in finance.

Farage showed some unpleasant true colours while he was a pupil at Dulwich, many of which have been documented. Of course he denies them, saying they are stories fabricated by the left to discredit him. Well he would, wouldn't he.

Farage is many things, but stupid is not one of them.

No such thing as ‘over educating’. Also having a degree doesn’t make you right for any job, they also had qualities to secure those jobs. However, yes the market is tough at the moment for those who want a different job. Manager of Lidl starts £45k btw! Goes up to £60k so is also a corporate job!

@Watdidusay

What is your son doing now and hoping to do work-wise in the future, OP?

It wasn't a matter of reading comprehension but common sense. OP said her DC, who is 18, couldn't even "get a job there." I think it was blindingly obvious that she meant a job suitable for an 18-year-old, and PP were just being disingenuous in order to have a go at her. I see it a lot on here - pretending to get the wrong end of the stick in order to falsely be all 😱 at a poster.

Well I guess it’s because the fact that one of the managers has a PHD is entirely irrelevant to whether the OP’s DS can get an entry level position there or not.

I suppose it comes down to this. When at the end of the last century manufacturing and industry was all but destroyed in this country we as a nation were promised high skilled, well paid work. As so many would be in these highly skilled professional jobs then as a result of that other industries like the arts, hospitality and small businesses were also expected to flourish as the masses sought to enjoy their new levels of wealth and education and for a very brief period (most bolstered by cheap credit) it seemed like that might be the case.

However what really happened was that we became a service economy that makes very little and those really well paid jobs that require loads of highly educated people never materialised. Then with changes to how universities were operated and funded the education itself became a bottom line business and universities were incentivised to run as a many courses and take as many students as possible and charge the top level of fees regardless of how likely it was that their students would be able to make a career out of what they were studying. There is loads more to it in that most tech we are dependent on see the money generated flow out of the UK to the US i.e. electronic payments and so on.

Now were in this position where many of us have degrees, masters and phd's we won't use because the jobs simply don't exist.

Now qualifications themselves are big business now. A friend of mine recently unemployed and prepared to take anything was told she would need to do specialist qualifications for a cleaning job and a security job at her own expense.

We've all been sold up the river by short termism.

42% of students failed GCSE maths in 2025

I don't think people are over-educated as such, but I do think there is a lack of understanding, as to where a particular level of education will place people in the labour market. For example there a few jobs where a knowledge of Ancient Greek is essential, so if that is your qualification you may find yourself competing with younger less academic people for other work, they of course will have several years of experience by the time you leave university. That is not to say studying Ancient Greek is a bad thing, merely that it is not a particularly marketable skill.

To be honest, I think anyone studying Ancient Greek at University is well aware that it doesn’t qualify them for many actual jobs, and I doubt that’s why they take the qualification.

Classics is a highly respected degree though. It combines language, literature, history and philosophy.

I know, I have a DD who wants to study Classics.

Loads and loads of people do jobs which are not at all directly linked to their degrees though. Lots of degrees involve skills which make people marketable, even if the actual content of the degree isn't relevant to the job.

Of three friends who did Classics at Oxford, one now works in the jewellery department of Christies', one did one of those insanely-paid City jobs for ten years and is now running a theatre company, and one, I'm pretty sure, is an analyst for GCHQ.

That’s a fundamental misunderstanding of what non vocational degrees confer. Humanities degrees showcase research skills, ability to convey complex ideas in clear language, ability to compare and evaluate different concepts and arguments. Those are all valuable skills in a wide range of jobs.

Look up Emam RTM on any social media, watch some of the videos, and come back to let us know if you still think Britain is overeducated.