Education best place for young during recession, says University of Bradford economist
Job prospects will be better in three to four years, academic tells Clearing students
With record numbers of students expected to pass through the university Clearing process this year, higher education is the best place for students to ‘weather the storm of recession’, says University of Bradford’s Dr Mark Baimbridge from the University of Bradford’s School of Management.
As official figures showed 220,000 fewer people were working in the three months leading up to June, Dr Baimbridge urged those able to enter the jobs market to pause and consider their futures.
“They basically have two options. One is to go into the workforce and the other is to continue in education. Whenever there is a recession, going into employment is made more difficult because you are starting off with no real experience, you only have your school leaving qualifications and there will be lots more people who have more experience, professional as well as vocational.
“Given that, the more sensible thing to do would be to continue your education, wherever that might be, with the expectation that by the end of your course in three to four years’ time, assuming nothing else happens, the economy will have recovered.”
He added: “The fact we’re in a recession at the moment is not a surprise, given that the economy has been shut down since March. The question is how big will the recession be. Usually, recessions take between 18-24 months to work through, so students who enrol this year will come out of university on that upswing, at which point job prospects will be much better because employers will be looking for people and won’t necessarily mind too much about them not having experience.”
University of Bradford School of Management, part of the Faculty of Management, Law & Social Sciences, is part of an elite group of business schools worldwide with the triple-crown of accreditations - AACSB, AMBA and EQUIS. Its annual Entrepreneurs Across Borders programme sponsors students to travel abroad and experience entrepreneurship activities. These included trips to businesses, lectures and pitching their own business idea.
Dr Baimbridge’s comments come after University of Bradford graduate Stephanie Travers told how she secured her dream job in Formula 1 after joining the university through Clearing.