More than four in 10 university graduates living outside of London have jobs that do not require a degree, research showed.
Graduates from poorer backgrounds, living outside of London, were held back professionally due to the cost of moving and the lack of high-skilled jobs in their hometowns, according to a report by the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS).
The capital’s high concentration of graduate jobs in comparison to the rest of the UK damages the career opportunities of those who cannot afford to relocate.
The IFS said the number of low paid jobs has increased evenly across the UK over the last 20 years, while middle-range positions have disappeared in a process known as ‘hollowing out’.
However, skilled jobs with high salaries, requiring a university degree, have mainly emerged in London.
Useless degrees: Graduates from poorer backgrounds, living outside of London, were held back due to the cost of moving and the lack of high-skilled jobs in their hometowns
The trend means those who cannot afford to move to the capital to find work after university are less able to reap the returns of their higher education.
The number of university leavers in graduate jobs in inner London has increased to 65 per cent from 61 per cent in 1993, while falling nearly everywhere else.
The research showed 42 per cent of university-educated workers outside London have jobs that do not require a degree, up from 31 per cent in 1993.
Report author Xiaowei Xu, a senior research economist at the IFS, said: ‘The current economic geography of the UK limits both social mobility and the effective use of talent.’
