Report | What works to reduce equality gaps in employment and employability?

_{4 July 2022}

Summary

Higher and further education providers are increasingly held to account for how their graduates fare in the job market. This evidence review explores the existing evidence on how education providers can improve labour market outcomes for graduates from disadvantaged groups.

Produced in collaboration with The Centre for Education and Youth (CfEY) and the Education Policy Institute (EPI), the report contains evidence from three sources:

• Data analysis to understand the context. What are the labour market outcomes for graduates from disadvantaged backgrounds and how do they compare to those for non-disadvantaged graduates?
• Literature review to gather evidence of what works. Which programmes does the technical and academic literature suggest are effective in improving labour market outcomes for disadvantaged graduates?
• Sector consultation to explore insights from practice. What do practitioners and experts working in the field of graduate careers and employment report about their experiences of delivering and evaluating programmes for students from disadvantaged backgrounds?

The report begins by defining the key concepts used, and then goes on to describe and compare the labour market outcomes for disadvantaged graduates and offer tentative explanations for these outcome gaps. The report then sets out the findings from the evidence review and consultations, and the methodology used. It concludes with recommendations for higher education providers and researchers.

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