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“I'm a littleworried about my future，”said Dustin Hoffman in The Graduate．Heshould be so lucky．All he had to worry about was whetherto have an affair with Mrs Robinson．In the sixties，thatwas the sum total of post-graduation anxiety syndrome．
Hoffman'smodern counterparts are not so fortunate．The Mrs Robinsons aren't sitting aroundat home any more，seducing graduates．They are out in the workplace，doingthe high-powered jobs the graduates want，but cannot get．Forthose fresh out of university, desperate for work but unable to get it，thereis a big imbalance between supply and demand．And there is no narrowing of the gap insight．
The latestunemployment figures show that 746,000 of 18-24 year-olds are unemployed— arecord rate of 18 per cent．Many of those will have graduated thissummer．They are not panicking yet，but as the job rejections mount up，theyare beginning to feel alarmed．
Of course，itis easy to blame the Government and，in particular, the target that Labourhas long trumpeted---50 per cent of school-leavers in higher education．Thatwas not too smart．The Government has not only failed tomeet its target—the actual figure is still closer to 40 per cent— but it hasraised expectations to unrealistic levels．
Parents feel asbadly let down as the young people themselves．Middle-class families see theirgraduate offspring on the dole(救济金)queue andwonder why they bothered paying school fees．Working-class families feel an evenkeener sense of disappointment．For many such families，gettinga child into university was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream．Itrepresented upward social and financial mobility．It was proof that they were living in adynamic，economically successful country．That dream does not seem so rosy now．
Graduate unemployment is not，ultimately, a political problem readyto be solved．Job-creation schemes for graduates are very low down inministerial in-trays．If David Cameron's Conservatives had abrilliant idea for guaranteeing every graduate a well-paid job，theywould have unveiled it by now．It is a social problem，thougha more deep-seated social problem than people perhaps realize．
