Employment rates of recent graduates The data presented in this article refer to ‘graduates’ in a broad sense of the term, namely people having left education and training with at least an upper secondary level of educational attainment (ISCED 2011 levels 3 to 8). A tertiary education or a vocational education increases employment opportunities Figure 1 presents EU employment rates for recent graduates (aged 20–34) by level of educational attainment. It reveals that the highest employment rates (for people not in education or training alongside their employment) in 2019 were recorded for those who had graduated with a tertiary education (ISCED levels 5–8), while lower employment rates were recorded for those with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education (ISCED levels 3 or 4). Note that recent graduates with a vocational upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education (hereafter referred to as ‘vocational graduates’) systematically recorded higher employment rates than those with a general upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education (hereafter referred to as ‘generalist graduates’). As such, it would appear that apprenticeships and other kinds of education programmes that equip students with the knowledge, know-how, skills and/or competences required for a particular occupation increase the likelihood of recent graduates being able to find a job. It should be noted that the indicator 'employment rate of recent graduates' presented in this article concerns recent graduates (in other words, those who have graduated within the last one to three years) meeting two criteria, namely: being in employment, and;

not in any further (formal or non-formal) education or training (during the four weeks preceding the survey). The proportion of recent graduates who are undertaking education or training alongside their employment – not covered by the above-mentioned indicator – varies depending on their level of educational attainment and this may influence the employment level of recent graduates. The other aspect clearly apparent from Figure 1 is the increase in recent graduate employment rates as a function of the time spent since the completion of education. Again it should be noted that this may reflect falling participation in education and training alongside employment as the time since graduation increases, and not just increases in the chances of employment. For all three groups of educational attainment, the lowest employment rates for graduates aged 20–34 were recorded for those who had left education or training during the three previous years, which reflects, to some extent, the initial difficulties that recent graduates have in finding their first job. The employment rates at EU-level for graduates having left education or training during the last three years shows that for those with a tertiary education it was 83.2 % in 2019, while the corresponding rate for vocational graduates was 4.3 percentage points lower. By contrast, the employment rate for generalist graduates was considerably lower, at 62.3 %, or some 20.9 percentage points below the corresponding figure for tertiary graduates. Skills mismatch: tertiary graduates may take jobs for which they are over-qualified Some of the differences between generalist and tertiary graduates may be linked to tertiary graduates deciding to take jobs for which they were over-qualified in order to get into the labour market, thereby boosting the employment rate for tertiary graduates while at the same time lowering employment rates for other graduates. This may be particularly important in those cases where labour market demand is subdued, for example, following the onset of the global financial and economic crisis in the late 2000s.

(%)

Source: Eurostat Figure 1: Employment rates of recent graduates (aged 20–34) not in education and training, by educational attainment level and years since completion of education, EU, 2019(%)Eurostat (edat_lfse_24)

Benchmark target for ET 2020 While each EU Member State remains responsible for its own education and training system, the strategic framework for education and training 2020 (ET 2020) is designed to address common challenges, while providing a forum for the exchange of best practices and sharing evidence of policy initiatives within this domain that have been a success. ET 2020 sets eight education and training benchmarks to be achieved in the EU by 2020. Among these, one target is specifically related to the employment rate of recent graduates. It was introduced in May 2012 and aims to see the share of employed graduates (aged 20–34 with at least upper secondary education attainment and having left education one to three years previously) reaching 82.0 %. It is important to note that the target employment rate for recent graduates encompasses both those leaving education and training with at least an upper secondary or post-secondary, non-tertiary qualification (ISCED 2011 levels 3 and 4) with either general or vocational orientations, and those leaving with a tertiary education qualification (ISCED 2011 levels 5–8).

Table 1 provides a detailed picture of the latest information available for employment rates of recent graduates. It is based on graduates (aged 20–34) who had completed their education or training between one and three years prior to the survey being conducted. In 2019, the EU employment rate for this subpopulation was 80.9 %, ranging from highs of 91.9 % in the Netherlands, 92.7 % in Germany and 93.1 % in Malta to lows of 59.4 % in Greece and 58.7 % in Italy; a low rate was also recorded in Turkey (57.8 %) and North Macedonia (57.2 %). Aside from the Netherlands, Germany and Malta, there were 14 additional EU Member States where the employment rate of recent graduates was above the 82.0 % benchmark target set by the ET 2020: Luxembourg, Austria, Sweden, Czechia, Slovenia, Hungary, Denmark, Ireland, Finland, Latvia, Poland, Slovakia, Belgium and Estonia.

(%)

Source: Eurostat Table 1: Employment rates of recent graduates (aged 20–34) not in education and training, 2019(%)Eurostat (edat_lfse_24) and (edat_lfse_32)

Development over time Employment rates of recent graduates almost back to their 2008 level In keeping with the remainder of the population, recent graduates have been affected by the global financial and economic crisis in the late 2000s. Before the crisis, employment rates of recent graduates in the EU climbed constantly, reaching a peak of 81.8 % in 2008: rates increased for both those graduating with an upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education, as well as those graduating with a tertiary level of educational attainment. Employment rates peaked at 76.7 % for the former and 86.9 % for the latter. Figure 2 shows that from 2008 EU employment rates of recent graduates decreased during a period of five consecutive annual reductions, but in 2014 this rate showed signs of recovery (up by 0.7 percentage points compared to 2013). By 2019, the EU employment rate for recent graduates stood at 80.9 %, and is 0.9 percentage points below its relative peak in 2008. Employment rates of recent tertiary graduates were lowest at 79.5 % in 2014 (which was 7.4 points lower than in 2008) but were up to 85.0 % in 2019, still 1.9 percentage points below their relative peak in 2008 (at 86.9 %). Turning to recent graduates from upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education, the EU employment rate was lowest at 68.4 % in 2013 (which was 8.3 points lower than in 2008). By contrast, data for 2014 saw an upturn for this subpopulation, as their rate rose by 1.4 points to 69.8 % and increased in 2019 to 75.9 % and thus 0.8 percentage points away from the 2008 peak. In 2019, the gap in employment rates between recent tertiary graduates and recent upper secondary or post-secondary non-tertiary education graduates was 9.1 percentage points, which was slightly smaller compared to the situation in 2008 (10.2 points).

(%)

Source: Eurostat Figure 2: Employment rates of recent graduates (aged 20–34) not in education and training, by educational attainment level, EU, 2008–2019(%)Eurostat (edat_lfse_24) The increase in the employment rate of recent graduates through to 2008 was cancelled out by the economic and financial crisis … A comparison between 2008 and 2019 for employment rates of recent graduates is shown in Figure 3. There was almost no change in the EU employment rate over this period (81.8 % in 2008 compared with 80.9 % in 2019). This reflects the sluggish economic recovery post-2008 which cancelled out any gains made before the period under consideration.

(%)

Source: Eurostat Figure 3: Employment rates of recent graduates (aged 20–34) not in education and training, 2008 and 2019(%)Eurostat (edat_lfse_24) … with still ongoing recovery of those EU Member States most affected by the crisis In almost all EU countries, employment rates of recent graduates peaked around 2007/2008, followed by often severe declines in the subsequent years. For the period 2008-2019, lowest employment rates reported by Member States fell between 2009 and 2015, with 16 countries reporting their lowest rate between 2012 and 2014, i.e. the start of recovery varies across countries. Compared to 2008, access to the labour market for graduates is still particularly low in Spain, Greece and Romania, where the employment rate of recent graduates in 2019 was 9.1, 8.9 and 8.7 percentage points respectively below their 2008 levels. Comparatively low rates are also reported by France and Italy where employment rates of recent graduates were around 7.0 points below their 2008 levels. It is interesting to note that back in 2008, Spain, Romania and France each recorded employment rates for recent graduates that were above the 82.0 % ET 2020 benchmark target. Of the 17 EU Member States that recorded employment rates for recent graduates in 2019 that were above the 82.0 % benchmark target, Poland, Hungary and Germany registered the most sizeable increases between 2008 and 2019, with gains of 4.7 percentage points, 5.4 and 6.2 points respectively. By contrast, although the latest employment rates for recent graduates in Belgium, Czechia, the Netherlands, Austria, Ireland, Malta and Denmark remained above the 82.0 % target, each of these recorded lower rates in 2019 than in 2008.

Disparities by educational attainment level Tertiary recent graduates recorded the highest employment rates The level of educational attainment plays a key role when recent graduates seek employment. Those with a tertiary level of educational attainment recorded the highest employment rates and were generally better shielded from the risks of unemployment than their peers who entered the labour market with lower levels of educational attainment. In 2019, the employment rate of recent tertiary graduates was over 90.0 % in Poland, Ireland, Austria, Sweden, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Germany, Malta and Latvia. There were four EU Member States where this indicator was less than 80.0 %, although only two of these recorded rates that were lower than 70.0 %, the exceptions being two of the EU Member States most affected by the financial and economic crisis: Greece and Italy. A comparison between employment rates for the whole population (those aged 20–64) irrespective of their level of educational attainment and employment rates of recent graduates shows that graduates generally benefit from the completion of their education. In 2019, Greece and Italy were the only EU Member States where the employment rate of recent graduates was lower than the overall employment rate, suggesting that new graduates faced particular challenges to enter the labour market in both of these countries. While young people have in recent years faced increasing challenges in their transition from education into the workforce, Figure 4 shows that employment rates of recent tertiary graduates in 2019 were higher than employment rates for those graduating with a generalist or vocational qualification in all but one of the 26 Member States for which data are available (incomplete information for Croatia). The exception was Slovakia which recorded a higher employment rate among recent general graduates (86.8 %) than for either vocational (84.6 %) or tertiary (83.4 %).

(%)

Source: Eurostat Figure 4: Employment rates of recent graduates (aged 20–34) not in education and training, by educational attainment level, 2019(%)Eurostat (edat_lfse_24) In 2019, the biggest difference in employment rates between recent tertiary graduates and recent generalist graduates (among those aged 20–34) was recorded in France, where the former had an employment rate that was 31.2 percentage points higher, while differences of 27-28 points were recorded between these two subpopulations in Italy, Austria, Germany and Belgium. Employment rates of recent vocational graduates were generally higher than those of generalist graduates. However, among the 26 EU Member States for which data are available, there were six where this pattern did not hold: Greece, Slovakia, Lithuania, Finland, Cyprus and Latvia. On the other hand, the gap between employment rates for recent tertiary graduates and recent vocational graduates was particularly narrow in Estonia, Germany and Czechia where the differences were no more than 1.4 percentage points (in favour of recent tertiary graduates). By contrast, in Ireland, Romania, Lithuania and Latvia there was a considerably wider gap between the employment rates of recent tertiary graduates and recent vocational graduates, with differences of 15 percentage points or over.

Gender differences Recent male graduates in the EU were more likely to find work than their female counterparts In 2019, the EU employment rate of recent male graduates stood at 83.2 %, reaching the EU2020 benchmark already in 2018. The rate for recent male graduates was higher than the rate recorded among recent female graduates (78.6 %); this continued a pattern that was apparent over the latest 11-year period for which data are available, as shown in Figure 5. Some of these gender differences may be explained by the nature of studies (fields) that are typically followed by the two sexes (for example, a higher proportion of science and technology students tend to be male) and by differences in labour market demand for graduates with different skills.

(%)

Source: Eurostat Figure 5: Employment rates of recent graduates (aged 20–34) not in education and training, by sex, EU, 2008–2019(%)Eurostat (edat_lfse_24) The largest gender gap for EU employment rates of recent graduates was recorded in 2008. However, with the onset of the financial and economic crisis, there was a rapid reduction in the gap between male and female rates. In 2009, the employment rate of recent male graduates fell by 5.0 percentage points, compared with a reduction of 2.7 percentage points among recent female graduates. This was short-lived as the gender gap widened again in 2010 and remained within the range of 3.6–4.9 percentage points (in favour of young male graduates) during the period 2010 to 2019. The gender gap in employment rates of recent graduates was present in 21 of the EU Member States and was most pronounced in Estonia, Slovakia and Czechia where the employment rates of recent male graduates were respectively 14.0, 14.3 and 15.8 percentage points higher than those for women; an even larger gender gap was recorded in Turkey (17.6 points). By contrast, employment rates for recent female graduates were slightly higher than those for their male counterparts in Croatia, Malta, Greece and Belgium, with a difference between the sexes of no more than 1.0 percentage points, a gap that rose to 5.9 in Latvia; there was also a gap in favour of women in the United Kingdom (0.2 points difference between the sexes).

(%)

Source: Eurostat Figure 6: Employment rates of recent graduates (aged 20–34) not in education and training, by sex, 2019(%)Eurostat (edat_lfse_24)

Source data for tables and graphs Employment rate of recent graduates

Data sources Key concepts The employment rate is obtained by dividing the number of persons in employment of a particular age group by the total population of the same age group. The indicator for recent graduates is calculated for the age group 20–34 and concerns those who had successfully completed their highest level of education one to three years beforehand. The term ‘graduate’ refers to any person who has left education and training with at least an upper-secondary or post-secondary, non-tertiary qualification or with a tertiary qualification (ISCED 2011 levels 3–8). The denominator for the ratio is based solely on those persons who were no longer in (formal or non-formal) education or training and hence excludes both: those who continue to follow their studies while working (for example, part-time jobs, seasonal work, holiday jobs);

those who are primarily working but at the same time engaged in some form of education or training, for example, apprentices.

For the purpose of this article, graduates are defined as those who entered and successfully completed an education programme. The information presented refers to those students who graduated from ISCED 2011 levels 3–8. Graduates are only counted once, at the level of the highest programme successfully completed. Data source The EU labour force survey (LFS) provides statistics on employment rates of recent graduates. The LFS is documented in this background article which provides information on the scope of the data, its legal basis, the methodology employed, as well as related concepts and definitions. Levels of educational attainment Common definitions for education systems have been agreed between the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS), the OECD and Eurostat. UNESCO developed the International standard classification of education (ISCED) to facilitate comparisons across countries on the basis of uniform and internationally agreed definitions. In 2011, a revision to the ISCED was formally adopted, referred to as ISCED 2011. Prior to this, ISCED 1997 was used as the common standard for classifying education systems. Note that Eurostat statistics on employment rates of recent graduates have a break in series in 2014 when the first information collected under the ISCED 2011 classification became available; prior to this date these statistics were collected using ISCED 1997. For more information, see the article on the ISCED classification. Note on symbols used in tables The colon (‘:’) is used to show where data are not available.