In the 2008 race for the White House, the Democrat cice presidential candidate, Joe Biden said of work that it “is about more than just a pay cheque. It's about dignity and respect."

That quote has never left me.

At the time it was profound. In hindsight, it's unrealistic. Three weeks after Biden made this speech, the world was plunged into a global financial crisis. The pay cheque would be required to last longer, stretch farther and endure.

There is an old saying that ‘if you pay peanuts you get monkeys’. I would argue that in 2012 Britain it would be more apt to suggest that ‘if you pay peanuts you can get graduates. And you can get away with it.’

Recently, I was involved in a discussion with a colleague over what constituted a good salary for a graduate two years out of university. We had a lively exchange of views.

For them, they sympathised with the businesses who offer wages in the region of £15-20,000 as a salary for a graduate up to four years out of university. She cited the economic downturn, the mass unemployment and greater number of applications for each post as the most potent examples for why she thought this way.

I think that is intolerably low and begs some very interesting questions, especially at a time when students are set for treble the cost in debt.

So what does it mean to be a graduate in Britain? What does it mean to be a graduate from an elite UK academic institution? What does it mean for the future of UK degrees when the rewards are few and far between?

It seems to be delaying the inevitable; joining the great British rat race or put differently, joining the race to the bottom.

Although it may not seem so important as a 17 year old schoolboy, the signature you put on the bottom of the Student Finance application is in a social and moral contact with the state. You promise to undertake a three, four or five year course and in return you receive a tuition fee and maintenance loan. But it also extends to an agreement that when you complete your course, you will pay back the taxpayer, with interest, what you have borrowed on the promise that your earnings will be higher as a result of the higher skilled jobs you will be eligible to apply for.

A state’s failure to create a climate conducive to jobs being available in high skilled industry, is a breach of the terms of that contract.

When a 16 year old school leaver with no GCSE’s can earn more by the age of 25 working in a supermarket than a graduate with extensive work experience, internships and qualifications, can, then there is an imbalance in our economy.

Furthermore, it doesn’t lend itself to an ambitious society. When you can survive comfortably by doing the bare minimum, then why exert yourself or do more than you have to?

I don’t expect it to be easy. This isn’t a Labour candidate pontificating over whether the Labour Party should be promoting more pieces of legislation which increase the public dependency on the state.

I appreciate that people should have to work in industries they might not want to forge a long term career in, so that in the short term, they have the capital to be able to achieve what they really want to.

Additionally, I appreciate that part of anyone’s career development is spending time working, often and rightly, voluntarily with organisations. This may mean taking a part-time job when you are at university to pay for a few days of travel and lunch costs whilst you undertake a voluntary work experience placement during the Christmas, Easter or summer holidays. In my opinion, that is OK. You aren’t reliant upon the state or the bank of Mam and Dad to fund your placements.

That is you, working hard to invest in your own future. I support and encourage that.

Nick Clegg’s new policy to attempt to eliminate the old adage that it is “not what you know but who you know,” is, like most of what he says, pointless. Of course in a career, you succeed and climb the greasy pole because of who you know and what doors they can open for you. The trick is to cleverly manufacture opportunities for yourself to meet these people.

This, however, takes guts, determination and above all, it takes ambition.

High skilled workers who have done their time, played by the rules, followed the advice and guidance of the elders, all in the hope that their future careers will be rich and profitable, are currently being asked to pay the price for others misfortune.

There is a tendency to look at the unemployment problem from the bottom up. I’m not suggesting this is wholly wrong, but I do think that there is a case to be made for looking at it top-down.

High skilled workers in low skilled jobs are choking the economy. How many Maths, History or Science graduates are today working in Call Centres or recruitment jobs because positions in finance, communications and the creative industries are limited?

Do I blame these graduates? Absolutely not. With student debts and graduate account overdrafts, the majority of UK graduates can ill afford to join the dole queue. The problem is that employers in Britain know that we have a jobs problem in this country and they are quick to exploit the expertise at their disposal and for the lowest possible cost.

Wages in Britain are excruciatingly low whilst the day-to-day cost of living is continually increasing.

It makes it even more difficult for graduates to contemplate relocating.

I would suggest that if you took a survey of the number of graduates, currently unemployed, who would be willing to relocate to various parts of the country for work, the number would be far greater than first thought.

This is not a Tory ‘Get on your bike’ mantra. It is simply posing the question that if enough people are willing to relocate across the country as students, does it not stand to reason that they may also be just as willing to relocate as graduates?

The living wage campaign is essential. While we are at it, we should raise the minimum wage and introduce a graduate wage. There has to be an incentive to both the prospective student and the taxpayer, to be willing to part with almost £13k per student per year under current legislation.

By introducing a graduate wage, it would force employers to decide; is a degree something you truly value? Do you truly believe that it makes for a higher skilled workforce? Do you think it makes for a stronger business? If the answer to those questions is, as it should be, yes, than it proves university is worth it. What is more, a graduate wage would demonstrate clearly the fiscal benefits in a degree and ensure, so far as is possible, that the taxpayer stands to recoup the money they lent in good faith.

l don't profess to be a policy wonk. A graduate wage may be a proposal that has no legs in the legislative process. But for the benefit of a more ambitious Britain, where university matters, surely it is a debate worth having?

Gavin Callaghan is a Labour candidate in Basildon for the 2012 local elections

Tags: Gavin Callaghan, University