GRADUATE OUTCOMES SURVEY: CLASS OF 2022

Posted: 17 November, 2023

A strong labour market for recent graduates.

The Graduate Outcomes Survey: Class of 2022, published today presents the findings of a national analysis of higher education graduate outcomes in Ireland.

Overall, there has been an increase in employment with corresponding reductions in further study, compared with the Class of 2021 and 2020. The overall picture is one of a strong labour market for recent graduates.

· Overall, 83.0% of graduates are in employment nine months after graduation. For the class of 2021, this was 81.9% and for the class of 2020, this was 75.9%. Employment is highest amongst Education graduates (93.9%) and lowest for Arts & Humanities graduates (66.3%).

· The proportion of graduates pursuing further study has decreased to 10.2% for the Class of 2022, down from 11.9% for the Class of 2021.

· For the Class of 2022, 4.4% of graduates are unemployed nine months after graduation. For the Class of 2021, this was 4.2%. Unemployment rates are highest in ICT (8.0%) and Arts & Humanities (7.4%).

· Technological Universities generally have higher employment rates than Universities as more of their graduates tend to go directly into employment rather than pursue further study. Between 82% – 87% of Undergraduate graduates from TUs are in employment nine months after graduation whereas this figure is between 64% – 85% for Universities.

· The most common fields of study are Business, Administration & Law (26.0%), Health & Welfare (15.8%), and Arts & Humanities (11.5%).

· Two-thirds (66%) of graduates consider their course Very Relevant or Relevant to their job.

· 64% said they would be very likely or likely to do the same course again.

CEO at the Higher Education Authority, Dr Alan Wall

‘We are delighted to release the Graduate Outcomes Survey Class of 2022 report, which shows that employment rates for our graduates continue to increase showing the value of a higher education qualification. This report adds to the graduate tracking evidence base and provides all our stakeholders with up-to-date and detailed data on early career outcomes for recent graduates.’

Structure of Reporting

This year, the Graduate Outcomes Survey – Class of 2022 national report will be available in the form of an interactive year-on-year dashboard published on the HEA website, accompanied by a “key findings” explainer. The link to the survey is – Graduate Outcomes Survey 2023 (Class of 2022)