Advertised graduate salaries in the UK have risen to a six-year high of £26,076 ($32,000) this summer, research from the job search site Adzuna showed on  Monday. The number of vacancies on offer has spiked 59% from a year ago. That still leaves 36 graduates competing for every job, the firm said.

The figures highlight how companies will look to graduates to help ease the tightest jobs market in decades. By offering more roles and higher starting salaries, companies may alleviate an acute shortage of workers that’s left vacancies across the economy at a record high. 

The higher salaries are also a reflection of red-hot inflation, which stands at a four-decade high of 9.1% and is expected to hit double-digits later this year.

“This is the strongest jobs market we’ve seen for graduates post-pandemic,” said Paul Lewis, chief customer officer at Adzuna. “Plenty of sectors remain desperate for talent and looking to grads to fill those gaps. It’s a welcome piece of good news for the Class of 2022, who battled remote learning and pandemic pressures.”

Graduates from Bayes Business School, Oxford, Imperial College, Cambridge and University College London are top of the tree for earnings. All of their grads are likely to earn more than £40,000 after five years. BM