Nearly one in 11 graduates are unemployed six months after leaving university – the highest proportion for 17 years, a study reveals today. The poll, by the Higher Education Careers Services Unit charity, covered 82% of those who completed an undergraduate degree last summer and live in the UK. The pollsters interviewed the graduates in January – six months after they left university. It comes as ministers plan to substantially increase the amount graduates pay for their degrees. The study found 8.9% of graduates, or just over 21,000, were out of a job after six months, a one percentage point rise on the previous year. The proportion of university leavers with a graduate-level job – as defined by the government – has dropped 3.3 points to 62.4%, the charity found. The proportion working in retail and catering rose by 3.8 points to 14.4% – about one in seven. The mean starting salary for graduates has not kept pace with inflation and is now ￡19,695 – an ￡18 rise on last year, the survey found. Those who had studied Chinese had the highest starting salary at ￡24,540 a year, while fine art graduates started on the lowest wage at ￡14,625.