Employers are having to make tough decisions - withdrawing job offers is a last resort

Carl Gilleard Association of Graduate Recruiters

Almost one in five have deferred a starting date, while one in 10 have withdrawn job offers altogether.

The economic downturn is being blamed for the changes, as companies struggle to place existing staff internally rather than make redundancies.

Some room for growth

"The vacancies we had in the company could be filled by existing employees, and it was better for us to redeploy staff than to make any redundant," one employer explained.

The downturn has most severely affected the electrical and optical equipment, mobile phone, and computer manufacturing industries.

But some industries - especially retail, distribution and hotels and catering sectors - are still showing healthy growth.

And 13% of employers actually reported an increase in the number of graduates they planned to recruit.

Choosing to defer

Overall, the number of vacancies is down 5.5%.

"Employers are having to make tough decisions - withdrawing job offers is only used as a last resort," Carl Gilleard, AGR chief executive said.

"The deferment approach appears to be gaining in popularity and while it is not ideal, it does help companies to maintain a return on their investment and soften the blow for the graduate".

While most companies blamed the economic downturn for the cutbacks, a minority mentioned that there was a shortage of candidates of a high enough calibre.

The research was conducted by the Institute for Employment Studies and was based on the responses of 166 leading UK employers.