04 April 2022
Go to release: Higher Education Outcomes - Graduation Years 2010-2019
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (04 April 2022) published Higher Education Outcomes – Graduation Years 2010-2019. This new publication analyses the destinations of graduates in terms of employment, re-enrolment in education, the industry sectors that graduates work in and their earnings over time.
Commenting on the report, Brian Stanley, Statistician, said: “Approximately 80% of 2019 graduates were in substantial employment in the first year after graduation with median earnings of €555 per week. This compares with 83% of 2018 graduates with median earnings of €530 per week. More than one-quarter of 2019 graduates were in receipt of the Pandemic Unemployment Payment for a period in 2020.
The most popular industry for new graduates in 2019 was Professional & Scientific activities. This was followed by Wholesale & Retail, Health, and Education. More than half of graduates in employment were working in one of these industries in their first year after graduation.
Around 29% of those graduating in 2019 had re-enrolled in higher education the following year, which is up from 26% for the class of 2018.
Male and female graduates from 2010 earned similar amounts in the first five years after graduation. After ten years, male graduates earned €1,040 per week compared to €915 for female graduates, a difference of €125.”
Commenting on the report, Kieran Culhane, Senior Statistician, said: “This report was produced in collaboration with the Higher Education Authority (HEA) and is an example of the policy-relevant research projects the CSO is developing as part of the CSO’s leadership role of the Irish Statistical System. This project was carried out using a statistical framework known as the 'Educational Longitudinal Database' (ELD) developed by the CSO. This framework is produced by matching datasets from the Education sector to other public sector datasets which describe graduate outcomes in subsequent years.
In this regard, the CSO treats all data with strict confidentiality and never discloses any data that could subsequently be associated with any person or business. We have compiled these new statistics using anonymised records and will only produce statistical results at an aggregate level.”
Dr Alan Wall, CEO, HEA welcomed this report, stating: “The report provides crucial new insights into the effect of pandemic restrictions on recent graduates. In addition, a 10-year post-graduation longitudinal picture allows us to see further into activities of graduates as they establish their career paths. The availability of open data through the PxStat service gives access to a wealth of data which underpins the evidence base on graduate outcomes and complements HEA’s national Graduate Outcomes Survey.”
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