The UK's top employers have increased graduate recruitment by 17.9 per cent this year, restoring more than half of the swingeing cuts in vacancies made over the past two years, according to research published today.
But competition for jobs remains tough, with applications at unprecedented levels and 15 per cent higher than in 2008, according to the study of 100 big employers.
The survey by High Fliers Research, which analyses the graduate labour market on behalf of leading recruiters, said recruiters had already received 45 applications per vacancy this year. Many had filled all their entry level vacancies or closed applications early.
Applications are high because graduates from previous years are competing alongside the "class of 2010" for this year's vacancies.
Martin Birchall, managing director of High Fliers, said that, although graduate recruitment had expanded in almost every leading industry and employment sector, some of the largest increases were in the City, where vacancies in investment banking had jumped by more than a third in the past year.
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