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Educational Attainment Thematic Report 2024

Education Level and Labour Force

Online ISSN: 2811-6054

CSO statistical release, 13 November 2024, 11am

This chapter explores the interaction between achieved education level and the labour force. It will be seen that generally employment participation increases with level of education and that both males and females have higher participation in the labour force the higher their education level.

Employment rates increase with education level

Main findings for relationship between educational attainment and employment rates for those aged 25-64 in Q2 2024:

Employment rates increased as level of educational attainment increased, with this relationship evident in both sexes.
Over eight in ten (85%) females aged 25-64 years old with a third level qualification were employed, compared to six in ten (62%) of females with a higher secondary/ PLC or below attainment.
Males aged 25-64 years old with a third level qualification had an employment rate of 91% compared to 80% for those with a higher secondary/PLC or below attainment. See Figure 2.1 and Table 2.1.

Table 2.1 Employment rates of persons aged 25-64, classified by sex and highest level of education attained, Q2 2021 - Q2 2024

Table 2.1 Employment rates of persons aged 25-64, classified by sex and highest level of education attained, Q2 2021 - Q2 2024¹
% of persons
Highest level of education attained	NFQ²	2021	2022	2023	2024
Male employment rate
PLC/Secondary and below, of which:	None/1/2/3/4/5/6	74	80	80	80
Primary or below	None/1/2	38	52	49	47
Lower Secondary	3	69	72	73	72
Higher Secondary	4/5	77	83	83	85
Post Leaving Certificate	4/5/6	84	87	89	87
Third Level, of which:	6/7/8/9/10	90	92	92	91
Higher Certificate or equivalent	6	86	90	90	88
Ordinary Degree or equivalent	7	88	91	91	89
Honours bachelor degree or equivalent	8	90	92	91	92
Postgraduate qualification	9/10	92	94	94	92
Total male employment rate		82	86	86	86

Female employment rate
PLC/Secondary and below, of which:	None/1/2/3/4/5/6	57	59	63	62
Primary or below	None/1/2	24	24	31	28
Lower Secondary	3	41	45	49	43
Higher Secondary	4/5	60	61	66	65
Post Leaving Certificate	4/5/6	69	70	71	74
Third Level, of which:	6/7/8/9/10	81	84	85	85
Higher Certificate or equivalent	6	65	77	72	75
Ordinary Degree or equivalent	7	75	78	81	81
Honours bachelor degree or equivalent	8	82	85	86	86
Postgraduate qualification	9/10	84	89	89	88
Total female employment rate		70	73	76	76

All persons employment rate
PLC/Secondary and below, of which:	None/1/2/3/4/5/6	66	70	72	72
Primary or below	None/1/2	32	39	41	39
Lower Secondary	3	59	61	64	61
Higher Secondary	4/5	69	73	75	75
Post Leaving Certificate	4/5/6	77	79	80	80
Third Level, of which:	6/7/8/9/10	85	88	88	88
Higher Certificate or equivalent	6	72	82	79	81
Ordinary Degree or equivalent	7	81	84	85	85
Honours bachelor degree or equivalent	8	86	88	88	89
Postgraduate qualification	9/10	88	92	91	90
Total persons employment rate		76	80	81	81
¹Care should be taken when comparing year to year changes due to small cell sizes in certain subgroups.
² National Framework of Qualifications.

Open in Excel: Educational Attainment Thematic Report 2024 Table 2.1 (XLS 12KB)

Visit Table EDQ05 on PxStat

Unemployment rates decrease with education level

Females with a third level education had an unemployment rate of 3% compared to 4% of females that attained higher secondary/PLC or below.
For men, 4% of those with a higher secondary/PLC or below attainment were unemployed, compared to 3% with a third level education. See Figure 2.2 and Table 2.2.

Table 2.2 Unemployment rates of persons aged 25-64, classified by sex and highest level of education attained, Q2 2021 - Q2 2024

Table 2.2 Unemployment rates of persons aged 25-64, classified by sex and highest level of education attained, Q2 2021 - Q2 2024¹
% of persons
Highest level of education attained	NFQ²	2021	2022	2023	2024
Male unemployment rate
PLC/Secondary and below, of which:	None/1/2/3/4/5/6	7	4	5	4
Primary or below	None/1/2	10	8	9	7
Lower Secondary	3	8	5	5	5
Higher Secondary	4/5	7	3	5	3
Post Leaving Certificate	4/5/6	7	4	3	4
Third Level, of which:	6/7/8/9/10	4	3	2	3
Higher Certificate or equivalent	6	9	3	5	6
Ordinary Degree or equivalent	7	5	2	2	3
Honours bachelor degree or equivalent	8	4	3	3	2
Postgraduate qualification	9/10	3	2	2	4
Total male unemployment rate		6	3	3	3

Female unemployment rate
PLC/Secondary and below, of which:	None/1/2/3/4/5/6	7	6	4	4
Primary or below	None/1/2	13	22	7	13
Lower Secondary	3	9	6	3	6
Higher Secondary	4/5	7	5	5	3
Post Leaving Certificate	4/5/6	6	5	4	4
Third Level, of which:	6/7/8/9/10	4	2	2	3
Higher Certificate or equivalent	6	8	3	3	1
Ordinary Degree or equivalent	7	5	4	2	4
Honours bachelor degree or equivalent	8	3	2	3	3
Postgraduate qualification	9/10	5	2	2	4
Total female unemployment rate		5	4	3	4

All persons unemployment rate
PLC/Secondary and below, of which:	None/1/2/3/4/5/6	7	5	4	4
Primary or below	None/1/2	11	13	9	9
Lower Secondary	3	9	5	4	6
Higher Secondary	4/5	7	4	5	3
Post Leaving Certificate	4/5/6	6	4	3	4
Third Level, of which:	6/7/8/9/10	4	3	2	3
Higher Certificate or equivalent	6	8	3	4	4
Ordinary Degree or equivalent	7	5	3	2	4
Honours bachelor degree or equivalent	8	3	2	3	3
Postgraduate qualification	9/10	4	2	2	4
Total unemployment rate		5	3	3	4
¹Care should be taken when comparing year to year changes due to small cell sizes in certain subgroups.
² National Framework of Qualifications.

Open in Excel: Educational Attainment Thematic Report 2024 Table 2.2 (XLS 12KB)

Visit Table EDQ06 on PxStat

Labour force participation rate

Nearly nine in ten females (88%) aged 25-64 years old with a third level qualification were in the labour force compared to 65% of females with a higher secondary/PLC or below attainment.
Over nine in ten males (94%) with a third level qualification were in the labour force compared to over eight in ten males (83%) with a higher secondary/PLC or below attainment. See Table 2.3.

Table 2.3 Labour force participation rates of persons aged 25-64, classified by sex and the highest level of education attained, Q2 2021 - Q2 2024

Table 2.3 Labour force participation rates of persons aged 25-64, classified by sex and the highest level of education attained, Q2 2021 - Q2 2024¹
% of persons
Highest level of education attained	NFQ²	2021	2022	2023	2024
Male participation rate
PLC/Secondary and below, of which:	None/1/2/3/4/5/6	80	83	84	83
Primary or below	None/1/2	42	56	54	50
Lower Secondary	3	75	76	77	76
Higher Secondary	4/5	83	86	88	87
Post Leaving Certificate	4/5/6	90	91	92	90
Third Level, of which:	6/7/8/9/10	94	95	94	94
Higher Certificate or equivalent	6	94	93	95	94
Ordinary Degree or equivalent	7	93	94	92	92
Honours bachelor degree or equivalent	8	93	94	94	94
Postgraduate qualification	9/10	96	97	96	96
Total male participation rate		87	89	89	89

Female participation rate
PLC/Secondary and below, of which:	None/1/2/3/4/5/6	61	63	66	65
Primary or below	None/1/2	28	30	33	32
Lower Secondary	3	45	47	51	46
Higher Secondary	4/5	64	64	69	67
Post Leaving Certificate	4/5/6	73	74	74	77
Third Level, of which:	6/7/8/9/10	84	87	87	88
Higher Certificate or equivalent	6	70	79	75	76
Ordinary Degree or equivalent	7	79	81	82	84
Honours bachelor degree or equivalent	8	85	87	89	88
Postgraduate qualification	9/10	88	91	90	92
Total female participation rate		74	76	78	79

All persons participation rate
PLC/Secondary and below, of which:	None/1/2/3/4/5/6	72	73	75	75
Primary or below	None/1/2	36	45	45	43
Lower Secondary	3	64	64	67	64
Higher Secondary	4/5	74	76	79	77
Post Leaving Certificate	4/5/6	82	82	83	84
Third Level, of which:	6/7/8/9/10	88	90	90	91
Higher Certificate or equivalent	6	79	85	83	84
Ordinary Degree or equivalent	7	85	87	87	88
Honours bachelor degree or equivalent	8	88	90	91	91
Postgraduate qualification	9/10	92	94	93	94
Total participation rate		80	82	83	84
¹Care should be taken when comparing year to year changes due to small cell sizes in certain subgroups.
² National Framework of Qualifications.

Open in Excel: Educational Attainment Thematic Report 2024 Table 2.3 (XLS 12KB)

Visit Table EDQ04 on PxStat

Early School Leavers – low number of early school leavers continues

In Q2 2024, only 3% of those aged 18-24 were defined as early school leavers (Early school leavers are persons aged 18 to 24 whose highest level of educational attainment is lower secondary or below and are not currently in education), a decrease from 12% in Q2 2007.
Females aged 18-24 years old were less likely than males to be classified as early school leavers (2% versus 3% respectively). See Figure 2.3 and Table 2.4.

Table 2.4 Early school leavers as a percentage of persons aged 18-24, classified by sex, Q2 2007 - Q2 2024

Early school leavers and the labour force

Main findings for labour participation of early school leavers:

Early school leavers had a lower rate of employment in Q2 2024 compared with all persons aged 18-24 (41% compared to 64%).
Over half (55%) of early school leavers aged 18-24 were not economically active compared to under a third (29%) of all persons aged 18-24. See Table 2.5.

Table 2.5 Percentage of early school leavers and other persons aged 18-24 classified by labour market status, Q2 2012 - Q2 2024

Next chapter: Profile of Age, Sex, Nationality and Region

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Educational Attainment Thematic Report 2024

Education Level and Labour Force

Education Level and Labour Force

Employment rates increase with education level

Unemployment rates decrease with education level

Labour force participation rate

Early School Leavers – low number of early school leavers continues

Early school leavers and the labour force

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Table 2.4 Early school leavers¹ as a percentage of persons aged 18-24, classified by sex, Q2 2007 - Q2 2024²
% of persons
	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
Male	15	15	15	14	13	12	11	8	8	7	6	6	6	6	4	5	4	3
Female	8	7	7	9	8	8	6	5	5	4	4	3	4	5	2	3	3	2
Total	12	11	11	12	11	10	8	6	6	6	5	5	5	5	3	4	4	3
¹ See background notes for definition of an early school leaver.
²Care should be taken when comparing year to year changes due to small cell sizes in certain subgroups.