Nearly six in ten new graduates are not working in a job related to their degree, according to research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).

The survey of 700 workers that have graduated in the past two years, shows that 58% gave the reason for this as being unable to find a suitable job, while 28% claimed their degree did not equip them with the skills required for the workplace.

The survey also shows that 21% of recent graduates have chosen a new career path after finishing their degree, while 24% have since decided to postpone the start of the careers entirely.

Tom Richmond, skills adviser at the CIPD, says: “If this is the situation today when our graduation rate is 39%, then the consequences for future graduate job prospects look bleak indeed if there really is an attempt to nearly double the numbers of graduates in the UK. To compound this, the recent announcement of an extra 20,000 university places in this year’s Budget makes the creation of a ‘disillusioned generation’ even more likely.”