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One in five graduates earns less than a person who left school with as little as one A-level。 The official figures raise doubts that thousands of students have wasted their time with ‘useless’ degrees。 On average, the Office for National Statistics says that a person with a degree or higher academic qualification, such as a PhD, earns £16.10 an hour。 By comparison, a person who got at least one A level, or an equivalent qualification, typically earns £10 an hour。 But 20 percent of graduates earn less than £10 an hour, the amount they would have earned without a degree。 The figure could be even worse in reality because the ONS did not include graduates who are unemployed or who have never worked。 The study also said the proportion of graduates doing low-skilled, badly-paid work has quadrupled to 2.3 percent since 1993. Many of these end up doing jobs which require little or no training such as hotel porter, postman, cleaner or catering assistant. Business groups have repeatedly warned that employers are turning their backs on graduates。 A recent report from the British Chambers of Commerce said too many graduates have ‘fairly useless degrees in non-serious subjects’。 Phil McCabe from the Forum of Private Business said: ‘The value of a degree is dwindling.’ Tanya de Grunwald, founder of Graduate Fog.co.uk, a website for job-seeking graduates, said many are devastated by the salaries they are offered。 | 
