Graduate Outcomes Survey 2023 Published

Posted: 19 December, 2024

More than 80% of third-level graduates are in employment nine months after graduation, according to the latest Graduate Outcomes Survey conducted by the Higher Education Authority.

This survey is a nationally representative annual survey of graduates across the higher education system.

Graduates are surveyed nine months after graduation. For the Class of 2023, the survey was distributed in Spring/Summer 2024.

Overall, 80.2% of graduates are in employment nine months after graduation. Employment is highest for Education graduates (90.3%) and lowest for Arts & Humanities graduates (64.5%).

This is down from 83% for the Class of 2022 and 81.9% for the Class of 2021.

The new research found that 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% and 87% of Undergraduate Honours Degree graduates from TUs are in employment nine months after graduation whereas the figure is between 64% to 85% for universities.

Almost 11% of graduates are in further study nine months after graduation. The proportion pursuing further study is highest for Arts & Humanities graduates (21%) and Natural Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics graduates (17%), and lowest for Information and Communication graduates (5.2%).

This is up from 10.2% for the Class of 2022 and down from 11.9% for the Class of 2021.

The number of graduates doing other activities such as travelling, volunteering or engaged in home duties has increased slightly from 2.3% for the Class of 2022 to 2.5% for the Class of 2023.

Unemployment has increased from 4.4% for the Class of 2022 to 6.5% for the Class of 2023. The figure was 8.1% for the Class of 2020.

The National Monthly Unemployment rate in March 2024 when the graduates were surveyed, according to CSO figures, was 4.3%. However, for people aged 15-24 years (Youth Unemployment rate), the rate was 10.5%.

Overall, the Class of 2023 produced 70,852 graduates, 55% of which were female and 45% male.

Just over 50% graduated from Undergraduate Honours Degree programmes while 27.6% graduated from Taught Masters programmes.

HEA CEO Dr Alan Wall said: “We are delighted to release the Graduate Outcomes Survey Class of 2023 report, which shows that employment rates for our graduates are still at a very high level. This report adds to the graduate tracking evidence base and provides up-to-date data for all our stakeholders on early career outcomes for recent graduates.”

Head of Skills, Engagement and Statistics at the Higher Education Authority, Dr Vivienne Patterson said: “The continued generation of robust data on graduate outcomes allows the HEA and higher education institutions to measure the early career development of graduates and forms an essential part of providing transparency and accountability for public investment.”

GRADUATE OUTCOMES SURVEY 2024 – AT A GLANCE:

Undergraduate Graduates

Level 6 and 7 graduates

• 6,717 graduates (42.5% Female; 57.5% Male)
• 55.1% of graduates are in further study with 40.1% in employment, nine months after graduation.
• Of those graduates in employment, 83.4% have permanent or open-ended contracts.
• 57.1% level 6 and 7 graduates in employment said their qualification was a formal requirement for this job.
• Of the graduates who were willing to share their salaries, 53.8% earned up to €39,999, with 46.1% earning more than €40,000. 23.4% of graduates were not willing to share how much they earned.

Undergraduate Honours Degrees

• 35,560 graduates (56.6% Female; 43.4% Male)
• More than three-quarters of graduates are employed nine months after graduation (76.5%), down from 77.2% in 2022, and up from 75.8% in 2021. The proportion of graduates pursuing further study has decreased to 16.3% in 2023, down from 16.9% in 2022 and 18.3% in 2021. Unemployment has increased to 5.0% in 2023, up from 3.7% in 2022.
• 63.8% of Undergraduate Honours Degree graduates are on permanent or open-ended contracts.
• Of the graduates who were willing to share their salaries, 70.2% earned up to €39,999, with 29.7% earning more than €40,000. 28.0% of graduates were not willing to share how much they earned.
• The most common occupation for graduates nine months after graduation is Professional Occupations (51.8%).
• Nine months after graduation, 91.7% of employed graduates are working in Ireland. Dublin is the most common county of employment (40.9%), followed by Cork (13.8%) and Galway (6.6%).
• In 2023, 56.6% of graduates completed internships. This is up slightly from 55.9% in 2022.
• More than six in ten graduates consider their course Very Relevant or Relevant to their job (62.5%).
• The most common sources of employment include Recruitment Sites (22.4%), already having worked there (including work experience) (19.4%) and Personal Contacts (17.9%).

Postgraduate Graduates

Postgraduate Taught Graduates

• Postgraduate Taught Graduates includes graduates from Postgraduate Certificate, Postgraduate Diploma or Taught Masters programmes.
• 24,526 graduates (56.3% female; 43.7% male)
• Nine months after graduation, 84.1% of Postgraduate Taught graduates were in employment, down from 89.3% in 2022 and 89.7% in 2021. The proportion of graduates pursuing further study increased to 4.3% in 2023 up from 2.9% in 2022 and from 3.6% in 2021. Unemployment has increased, at 9.0% in 2023, up from 5.8% in 2022 and 4.6% in 2021.
• Just over 3 in 5 Postgraduate Taught graduates (60.1%) are employed in Professional Occupations, nine months after graduation.
• 71.2% are on permanent or open-ended contracts, down slightly from 71.7% in 2022.
• More than half (52.1%) of graduates earn more than €40,000 per annum.
• 9.8% of Postgraduate Taught Graduates earn over €80,000, this compares to 2.7% of Undergraduate Honours Degree graduates.
• 67.0% of graduates believe that their course is relevant to their job.

Postgraduate Research Graduates

• Postgraduate Research Graduates includes graduates of master’s Research and Doctoral programmes.
• 2,031 graduates (51.7% female; 48.3% male)
• In 2023, 89.1% of Postgraduate Masters Research graduates were employed nine months after graduation, down slightly from 89.7% in 2022 and 89.6% in 2021.
• The proportion of graduates pursuing further study increased, at 3.5% in 2023, up from 2.3% in 2022 and 3.2% in 2021.
• Meanwhile, unemployment increased to 4.9% in 2023, up from 3.7% in 2022 and 3.4% in 2021.
• A total of 72.7% are earning more than €40,000 per annum.
• 14.5% of Postgraduate Research Graduates earn over €80,000, this compares to 8.8% of Postgraduate Taught Graduates and 2.7% of Undergraduates Honours Degree Graduates.
• 61.5% are on permanent or open-ended contracts, down from 63.5% last year.
• Professional Occupations is the most common occupation type, accounting for 58.1% of Postgraduate Research Graduates, this was 64.7% for the Class of 2022.
• 75.6% of graduates believe that their course is relevant to their job.

International Graduates

• 13,819 graduates were internationally domiciled (51.9% female; 48.1% male)
• Business, Administration and Law is the most popular field of study for this group with 34.7% choosing this field of study.
• In 2023, 75.3% of internationally domiciled graduates were employed nine months after graduation, down from 79.7% in 2022
• The proportion of graduates pursuing further study decreased, at 7.7% in 2023, down from 8.8% in 2022.
• Top employers for internationally domiciled graduates included the Schools, the HSE, Ernst & Young and Deloitte.

Recruitment sites (24.2%) were the most popular source for finding a job for internationally domiciled graduates.

You can view the report here.