This chapter discusses employment and education destinations after graduation. These graduation outcomes will also be explored as a function of time since graduation and as a function of graduation year, as well as across variables, such as field of study and sex. Descriptions of the destination definitions are provided in the Background Notes.
In the first year after graduation, 74% of the 2021 graduates were in employment and 61% were in education. Close to half (43.2%) of the 2021 graduates were in both employment and education. Therefore, nearly 92% of the 2021 graduate cohort were in employment or education. Of the remaining graduates, 5.2% were in 'neither employment nor education', while 2.9% were 'not captured'. Between 2019 and 2021, there was a sharp rise of 15% in the number of new graduates going into employment. The proportion of graduates who were in 'neither employment nor education' dropped by more than a third over the same period, from 8.1% for 2019 graduates, to 5.2% for 2021 graduates.
© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/FEO02
In the first year after graduation, nearly 62% of 2016 graduates were in employment and close to 63% went into education. The overlap between these outcomes is 36.4%, while the combined proportion is 88.9%. Over the following five years, the number of graduates in employment increased to 71.4%. Over the same period, the proportion of graduates going into education significantly decreased to almost 27%.
Female graduates from 2016 were 8% more likely to work one year after graduation than males, with 65.5% women and 57.5% men going into substantial employment one year after graduation. In the next five years, this fraction got reduced to almost 2%, with 72.3% female graduates and 70.2% males graduates substantially employed.
Men graduates from 2016 were 8% more likely to study one year after graduation than women, with 59.7% females and 67.7% males in education one year after graduation. This percentage gap decreased to only 0.3% five years later.
More than three in four (77.5%) NFQ Level 1 2021 graduates were in education one year after graduation. For most NFQ Level 1 and Level 2 graduates, employment is not the expected outcome, hence the relatively low percentage of employment amongst 2021 graduates (2.8%). In both cohorts of NFQ Level 5 and Level 6 2021 graduates, close to four in five graduates (79%) were in substantial employment one year later. The fraction of NFQ Level 6 graduates in education was the lowest relative to other NFQ Levels at 37.9%. However, amongst the NFQ Level 5 graduates, almost two in three (64.8%) were still in education one year after graduation.
© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/FEO22
Information & Communication Technologies 2021 graduates had the highest likelihood of being in either employment or education within the first year after graduation, at 96.5%, followed closely by Natural Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics and Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction graduates, both at 94.8%.
Health & Welfare and Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction graduates from 2021 were the most likely graduate cohort to go into employment in the first year after graduation, while graduates in Generic Programmes & Qualifications, and Arts & Humanities were the least likely to be in substantial employment.
Nevertheless, a high percentage of graduates from certain fields with low rates of employment went into education. A large fraction of Information & Communication Technologies graduates (77.8%) were in education one year after graduation. For Natural Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics graduates, this proportion was about 5% higher, at 82.9%.
Amongst the 2021 Natural Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics, and Social Sciences, Journalism & Information graduates, there was a significant proportion of persons who were in both substantial employment and in education. This suggests that graduates from these fields of study might be more likely to seek out part-time employment as they progress into their studies.
© Central Statistics Office, Ireland
https://data.cso.ie/table/FEO02
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