With the student community making up approximately 20% of Cardiff’s population, the process of finding part time work in the Welsh capital is becoming increasingly unattainable. The density of students from across Cardiff University, Cardiff Met and USW creates an overly competitive vacuum for casual and part time work. Consequently, a large proportion of students in Cardiff find themselves possessing a wide range of desirable skills, yet forced to compete for unskilled work, only to be turned down by employers.
According to the Office for National Statistics, unemployment for young people aged 16 - 21 has risen to 16.1% as of this year, making many feel understandably discouraged and unmotivated. The ONS has also reported that between January - March 2026, the estimated number of job vacancies has seen a decrease of 29,000, following broad estimates since March - May 2025. For students, the traditional term time job has become a near impossibility.
Additionally, considering that Cardiff’s city center is compact in comparison to other major cities including Manchester and London, the supply of student-friendly roles, for example, retail and hospitality, are overwhelmed with applications. Looking on Indeed, a large proportion of part time vacancies are located outside of the city centre, making them inaccessible to many students who lack means of transport, for instance. Popular job application sites such as Indeed are increasingly using AI to seek out candidates and look through potential CVs.
Therefore, in some cases, large numbers of CVs are screened out by artificial intelligence before a manager even gets the opportunity to read them. Whilst the Students’ Union offers services such as the SU Jobshop, there are simply not enough opportunities to cater to Cardiff’s extensive student population. With constantly rising living costs, this begins to create a worrying issue, as being a student is becoming unaffordable for many.
With a lack of vacancies for students, studying at university risks becoming a privilege rather than an opportunity that should be open to all.