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The increased participation in higher education in the United Kingdom (UK) in the 1990s has resulted in a more highly-qualified workforce. Social and Community Planning Research (SCPR) was commissioned by the Department of Education and Employment (DfEE) to undertake a study examining the impact on the labour market and on the graduates themselves of the rapid expansion in the number of graduates entering the labour market. It also investigated whether the skills possessed by the graduates were under-utilised in the work they did. This report is presented in two volumes. Volume one reports on the findings of the study and contains the following chapters: Summary; Introduction and method; The nature of graduate employment: recent changes and contributing factors; The nature and value of 'graduate skills'; Recruitment methods used to obtain graduates; Use of graduate skills in the workplace; Graduates' early career trajectories: from university into the labour market; Implications of the expansion of higher education: recommendations from employers and graduates; Industry sector profiles of graduate recruitment and skills utilisation; Conclusions. Volume two presents the background and technical details and contains the following chapters: Sample details; Technical details (quantitative stage); Analysis of labour force survey data. Also included as appendices are: Advance letter to personnel managers; Instruction sheet; Managers' questionnaire; Covering letter to line managers; Covering letter to graduates; Graduate questionnaire; Explanatory letter: qualitative study; Topic guide for employers; Topic guide for employees. Show less