1、IntroductionThe Graduate Market in 2026 is the annual review of graduate vacancies&starting salaries at the UKs top employers,produced by High Fliers Research.Based on new research with the UKs one hundred leading graduate employers,completed in December 2025,it examines the number of graduates recr
2、uited in 2025 and analyses the latest graduate recruitment targets for 2026.It also explores the starting salaries on offer to new graduates beginning their first jobs in 2026,and reviews the number of graduate job applications that employers have received so far during the 2025-2026 recruitment sea
3、son.This is the twenty-second year that High Fliers Research has produced its independent assessment of the graduate job market,which is made available to graduate employers,universities,Government and policymakers,schools&sixth form colleges,current students and recent graduates.Research BriefingTh
4、e Graduate Market in 2026Chart 1 Changes to Graduate Vacancies at the UKs Top Employers 2011 to 202620122013 2014 2015 20162017 2018 20192022 Source-The Graduate Market in 20262020 20212011p 2.8%p 2.5%p 7.9%p 3.3%p 1.6%p 6.2%p 9.4%p 4.3%q 0.8%q 4.9%q 12.3%2023 2024p 14.5%q 6.4%q 14.6%2025q 5.1%Based
5、 on new research conducted in December 202512026q 0.5%The Graduate Market in 20252 2Graduates Recruited in 2025During the global financial crisis and recession of 2008-2009,the number of graduates recruited by the UKs best-known and most successful employers dropped by almost a quarter.But in the de
6、cade that followed,there were eight annual rises in graduate recruitment,increasing the number of graduate vacancies available to university-leavers by more than 40 per cent between 2009 and 2019(see Chart 1).The Covid pandemic brought this extended period of sustained growth in recruitment to an ab