This chapter examines the industry (NACE sector) in which graduates were employed. Only graduates who were classified as being in ‘substantial employment’ are included here (including both those who were in employment only and those who were in substantial employment whilst also enrolled in education within the same outcome year).
It is important to note that the NACE sector relates to the graduate’s employer and describes the employer’s main activity. This is therefore distinct from the specific occupation of the graduate. As an example, an ICT graduate employed in an ICT-related capacity at a school would be classified as working within the Education sector.
For readability, Unknown NACE sector is not included in the following plots but is available to examine in the accompanying PxStat tables. Additionally, due to the low overall numbers, ‘Other gender’ graduates are not included in the following plots but are nevertheless included in the relevant PxStat tables.
The largest NACE sector for 2022 graduates in their first year after graduation was Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities. The overall number of graduates had decreased to 5,410 from the previous year of 2021 when 5,960 graduates were employed in this sector.
Looking across the ten graduation years, Wholesale and Retail Trade was the largest NACE sector from 2013 until 2017. From 2018 until 2022, this was Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities. The largest proportional growth in employed graduates for any sector across the period was seen in Public Administration and Defence, this sector employing 400 of the 2013 cohort of graduates and 1,030 of 2022’s graduates.
Among 2013 graduates, the Education sector was the second-largest sector of employment for employed graduates in their first year after graduating and the largest sector after three, five, and ten years. The number of 2013 graduates who were employed in Education increased by around 52% from the first year after graduation to ten years after (from 2,880 to 4,380).
The number of 2013 graduates employed in Public Administration and Defence also saw notable growth from the first year after graduation to the tenth, the number of graduates increasing from 400 to 1,840. In contrast, the number of graduates employed in Accommodation & Food Service Activities decreased by around 83% across the same period (from 2,220 to 370).
Exploring how employment by sector varied by the gender of graduates, certain NACE sectors showed large differences in the proportion of 2022 graduates employed therein one year after their graduation.
The Human Health and Social Work Activities sector showed the largest proportion of female graduates employed, with 83% of graduates in this sector being female. Similarly, of the graduates employed in Education, 71% were female. Sectors in which there were more male graduates employed than females included Construction; Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing; and Information and communication sectors, at 78%, 71%, and 63% male, respectively.
It should be noted that preferred fields of study for male and female graduates were evident which are likely to influence subsequent sector of employment, as shown in the proceeding section. The number of graduates by gender is detailed in the Overview of Graduates chapter.
Figure 3.4 shows the breakdown by NACE sector for substantially employed graduates from each of the ten fields of study. The data relates to graduates from 2018 who were in substantial employment five years after graduation including those also in education.
Some fields of study show a clear majority of employed graduates working in a single destination sector, whilst for other fields of study employed graduates were dispersed across sectors with no single sector dominating.
The vast majority (92%) of graduates from Education courses were working in the Education sector five years after graduating. Similarly, 56% of Health and Welfare graduates were working in the Human Health and Social Work Activities and 44% of Information and Communication Technologies graduates were employed in Information and communication.
However, graduates from Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction courses showed more split employment by NACE sector with 29% in Industry and a further 26% in Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities. Similarly, employed Services graduates were observed to be working diversely across the range of NACE sectors.
Employed graduates from NFQ level 8 courses were most likely to be employed within Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities, Human Health and Social Work Activities, and Education sectors, these sectors collectively employing 44% of the total cohort.
Employed graduates from courses at NFQ levels 6 and 7 were more likely to be employed in Wholesale and Retail Trade and Accommodation & Food Service Activities, with 49% of NFQ level 6 and 32% of NFQ level 7 graduates employed across these two sectors.
Graduates from NFQ Level 9 courses were most frequently employed in Professional, Scientific and Technical Activities, whereas for graduates from NFQ Level 10 courses this was the Education sector. This may be partly explained by doctoral graduates employed in post-doctoral positions at Irish higher education institutions.
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