The majority of 2022 higher education graduates (84%) were in substantial employment in the first year after graduation. This compares with 85% of the 2021 graduate cohort and 72% of the 2013 cohort.
The most common sectors for 2022 graduates to gain employment in were Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities, Education, and Human Health & Social Work Activities. These three sectors accounted for 43% of substantial employments one year after graduation.
Overall, median earnings one year after graduation for the 2022 cohort of graduates stood at €625 per week, up from the median earnings of €595 per week for the 2021 cohort of graduates.
Earnings of graduates increased over time. Looking at the 2013 cohort, earnings rose in the 10 years after their graduation, with average weekly earnings up by €660, from €430 in the first year after graduation to €1,090 in 2023.
Approximately 23% of those graduating in 2022 had re-enrolled in higher education one year after their graduation, compared with 26% of the 2021 graduation cohort.
The CSO would like to acknowledge the institutions included who provided their consent for institution-level outcomes to be reported.
This release is part of an ongoing series on Higher Education Outcomes, and features analysis of new graduates from 2020, 2021, and 2022, as well as assessing outcomes up to 2023.
Learn about our data and confidentiality safeguards, and the steps we take to produce statistics that can be trusted by all.
Statistician's Comment
The Central Statistics Office (CSO) has today (16 February 2026) published Higher Education Outcomes – Graduation Years 2013-2022.
This release examines outcomes of graduates of higher education courses in Ireland both one year after graduation and over time. It utilises administrative data to assess the outcomes of graduates in terms of employment, re-enrolment in higher education, the sectors in which graduates work, and their earnings over time. The graduations included here are those completed at Higher Education Authority (HEA) institutions for Levels 6 to 10 on the National Framework of Qualifications. For the full details of the graduate cohorts considered, please see the Background Notes.
Commenting on the release, Oliver Ratcliffe, Statistician, said “This release measures higher education graduates’ outcomes in the 10 years after their graduation, looking at re-enrolment in higher education, employment, and earnings over time. The release provides key insight into graduate outcomes from both a longitudinal perspective, looking at how outcomes vary in the 10 years after graduation, and cross-sectionally, examining these questions across different graduation cohorts.
Overall Results for 2022 Graduates
The majority of 2022 graduates (84%) were in substantial employment one year after graduation. For those who graduated in 2013, this figure was 72%.
For those graduates who gained employment in the year after graduation, their average earnings per week were €625 and they were most likely to be employed in the Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities sector. The three sectors of Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities, Education, and Human Health & Social Work Activities accounted for 43% of employments one year after graduation. In terms of earnings, gender differences were already emerging one year after graduation, as males had average weekly earnings of €635 and for females it was €615.
It is also worth noting that 5.6% of the 2022 graduates were determined to be neither in substantial employment nor re-enrolled in higher education. These individuals may have been earning below the threshold for substantial earnings or were active in another data source. For example, they may have been enrolled in further education or in receipt of social assistance payments.
The remaining graduates (6.5%) were not detected in any administrative data sources one year after their graduation. For full details of how these data sources are linked and which are included, please refer to the Background Notes chapter.
Longer-Term Trends
Looking at the outcomes for the 2013 cohort of graduates, we can see that 10 years after their graduation their average earnings had increased by 153%, or €660, rising from €430 in 2014 to €1,090 in 2023. Over this 10-year period, graduates were more likely to be in substantial employment or not captured in any administrative data source, but less likely to be re-enrolled in education.”
About This Release
Further detailing how this analysis has been conducted, Senior Statistician, Rob Kelly, said: “This release was produced using a statistical framework known as the Educational Longitudinal Database (ELD) developed by the CSO. This framework relies on matching datasets from the education sector to other public sector datasets which allow us to determine graduate outcomes in subsequent years. Please refer to the Background Notes and the ELD Methodology page for further information.
In doing so, the CSO follows rigorous data protection protocols, treating all data with strict confidentiality and never disclosing 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. This means no individual can ever be identified from the data we utilise.”