Employers' and students' perspectives on the importance of numeracy skills in the context of graduate employability

This paper explores graduate employers’ and undergraduate students’ perspectives on the significance of numeracy skills to graduate employability, using two online surveys. Respondents to the employer survey represented a range of business sizes and sectors, while respondents to the undergraduate survey represented a diversity of academic disciplines and were all enrolled at the University of Central Lancashire. One in two employers use numeracy tests in their recruitment procedures for posts, ranging from elementary and skilled trade positions to professional occupations. Although almost two thirds of students recognised the importance of numeracy skills to their employability, about 40% were unaware that employers are increasingly adopting numerical testing, and almost half were anxious about attempting such a test.