The following analysis follows the 2023 new entrant cohort (i.e. individuals identified as new entrants in 2023) into 2024 in terms of employment mobility and the associated annual change in earnings recorded. The analysis is based on the primary employments of the new entrant cohort. For this analysis, the primary employment is defined as the employment with the highest gross earnings in the reference year.
In 2024, more than half (55.0%) of the 2023 new entrant cohort were recorded in the same primary employment, while a further 21.4% were recorded in a different primary employment. The remaining 23.6% of the new entrant cohort from 2023 were absent from the EAADS dataset in 2024.
Despite accounting for a small proportion of the new entrant cohort in 2023, the Public Administration & Defence and Information & Communication sectors recorded the largest proportion of stayers. Almost three-quarters (72.3%) of the new entrants with primary employments in Public Administration & Defence in 2023 remained in that same primary employment in 2024. Similarly, more than two-thirds (68.7%) of the new entrants with primary employments in Information & Communication in 2023 remained in the same primary employment the following year (See Table 2.1).
Conversely, the Administrative & Support Services sector recorded the highest level of employment mobility among the 2023 new entrant cohort. Almost one-third (32.0%) of new entrants with primary employments in this sector in 2023 recorded a different primary employment in 2024.
The annual increase in median weekly earnings tended to be least among stayers (13.2%), rising from €450.75 in 2023 to €510.11 in 2024, while those who changed employment recorded an increase of 40.0%, from €346.15 in 2023 to €484.71 in 2024.
The difference in the annual increase in weekly earnings recorded for these two cohorts indicated that those with higher earnings during their first year of employment tended to remain in their original employment, while those with lower weekly earnings were more likely to change employments.
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