More than 635,000 graduates are claiming Universal Credit as fears grow over the surge of "Mickey Mouse" degrees, official figures show.

Figures released to parliament for the first time indicate a total of 639,000 people with an honours degree or with an equivalent qualification are claiming benefits.

The data shows that more than one in nine claimants - roughly 11.9 per cent - are graduates, just four per cent lower than the proportion of 849,000 people with no qualifications at 15.9 per cent.

The Labour Force Survey for March to May this year was released to Parliament by the UK Statistics Authority.

The data shows full-time employment rate for graduates had fallen from 61 per cent to 59 per cent.

More graduates are now facing the minimum wage with the salary gap between the lowest earners in the UK and students leaving university inching closer to each other.

The median salary for graduates under the age of 65 is roughly £26,500 a year, according to the study.

It was an increase of only £500 from the year earlier.

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Hundreds of thousands of graduates with an honours degree or equivalent are claiming Universal Credit

The study did not find that graduates were more likely to land a job than non-graduates - 88 per cent of graduates were in employment last year compared to 68 per cent of non-graduates.

However, it has raised concerns about graduates being on Universal Credit and receiving "Mickey Mouse" degrees.

Centre of Education and Employment Research Director Professor Alan Smithers told The Telegraph that "the kinds of things that are offered lead to degrees but don't qualify people for the kinds of employment that are available.

"Therefore, people work hard on degree courses for three years and then discover that they don't have much earning potential in the labour market."

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Tory MP Neil O'Brien obtained the data through parliamentary questions.

He said it showed the "serious problems with both welfare and low-value university courses".

"Students are running up huge debts, being promised the moon, but ending up on benefits," O'Brien added.

Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary Helen Whately told The Times that students graduating faced "the triple jeopardy of low-value degrees, a labour market crippled by Labour's job taxes and competition with AI for entry-level roles".

"'The Government needs to grip this challenge. Their failure to reform welfare and economic mismanagement threatens the future of a new generation. Meanwhile, the taxpayer is footing the bill for unpaid student loans and graduates on benefits," she said.

However, a Government spokesman said "we remain committed to our principles to reform the welfare system".

The spokesman added that "those who can work, should work" and if they required help, the Government "should support you".

The Daily Mail last year analysed several "novelty" courses on offer for students who did not make their forecasted A-level results.

Campaign for Real Education Chris McGovern said courses like in esports, social media or digital creation were "money-making racket from cash-strapped universities".‘

"They are placing their own interests above the best interests of these young people and [it is] the taxpayer who has to finance student loans that, in these cases, are unlikely to be paid off," he added.

"Universities have a duty of care towards young people. Instead, they are exploiting them... Mickey Mouse degrees are those invented to seduce young people into handing over large amounts of money to keep universities in business."