Whatever the system, training policy should ensure that labor market needs are
met. Some have questioned employers’ ability adequately to identify future skills
needs, asking whether employers really need the skills they want (Stasz 1997) and,
equally, if they want the skills they need. In the UK, it was argued that employers
recruit graduates because they are plentiful, but then use them in intermediate
functions to remedy labor market skills deWciencies at this level. Recent evidence
disputes this hypothesis, showing that the vast majority of graduates in England
are employed within three years in positions that demand graduate skills, despite
the doubling of university entrants in a little over a decade (Elias and Purcell 2004).