More than half of graduates in the UK work in jobs that do not require a degree, a report has claimed, with calls for a national debate on creating more opportunities for highly-skilled workers.
The number of over-qualified students graduating from university entering non-graduate jobs has reached “saturation point”,  the report from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. 
This is leaving too many young people with an unnecessary burden of debt as they enter the workplace, warned the report, entitled Over-qualification and skills mismatch in the graduate labour market.
Just under 60 per cent of graduates in the UK work in non-graduate jobs, it said, adding that countries with a history of strong vocational training such as Germany have only 10 per ent or less of graduates in non-graduate positions.
The UK has a graduation rate of 54 per cent, the second highest in the OECD area, the report said, adding that while a rise in graduates outstripping the number of high-skilled jobs available is a trend in most countries, it is “particularly pronounced in the UK”. The research supports the idea an apprenticeship may be a better option for teenagers who have just completed GCSEs or A-levels.
It also called on employers not to use a degree as a screening process when recruiting for jobs that do not require a university education, and to work more closely with schools on traineeships and apprenticeships.