Nearly two thirds of new graduates secure employment after leaving university but these jobs are “not spread equally around the whole country”, new research has shown.

Figures from the Higher Education Careers Services Unit (HECSU) showed that the employment rate for new graduates remained relatively stable at 61.8 per cent, slightly down from 62.2 per cent in 2011.

This indicates career prospects are better than feared despite a weakening economy and further job losses from public spending cuts, HECSU said.

However, the data showed that London had the largest share of graduate jobs with 21 per cent of 2010/11 university leavers working there compared to just 3.8 per cent in the North East.

Many graduates in the capital were working close to the City and Westminster and more than half of these roles were in business and finance.

In its report HECSU said “jobs are not spread equally around the whole country” and warned “[not] everyone can move to any part of the UK in search of a job”.

However, the report rejected the common perceptions that ‘all the jobs are in London’ and that there are no jobs for graduates in other parts of the UK.

Westminster was the most likely place in London for a graduate in a marketing or sales role but outside London, Hertfordshire, Surrey, Oxfordshire and Manchester were also common places for graduates in these posts.

Oxfordshire or Cambridgeshire had the highest number of graduates entering science careers, while Merseyside, Surrey, Norfolk or Aberdeen attracted substantial graduate employment.

IT graduates were more spread out across the country but the City of London and Westminster remained the most common place to start in an IT graduate job. Outside the capital, Surrey, Cambridgeshire, Hampshire, Hertfordshire, Belfast and Tyne and Wear were the most common starting areas for graduates going into computing jobs.

Charlie Ball, deputy research director at HECSU said: “Many of the jobs created during the recession have been with smaller firms and therefore, when looking for vacancies, graduates should not just focus on large organisations but widen their search, taking advantage of local information, careers services and informal contacts. The figures show that even in difficult times, graduates can and do get jobs. Students need to prepare for a difficult jobs market, but there are opportunities out there, so don’t give up hope.”