Key Findings


  • What is the Graduate Outcomes Survey?

    The Graduate Outcomes Survey is a nationally representative annual survey of graduates across the higher education system (for full list of institutes, see Contact Details).

    Graduates are surveyed nine months after graduation. For the Class of 2023, the survey was distributed in Spring/Summer 2024. Exact timings are determined by the institutes themselves. There is one census date of 31 March 2024.

    Annually, the response rate for the Graduate Outcomes Survey is around 50%.

    An “Access our Data” dashboard is produced, in the form of an interactive dashboard. This dashboard facilitates further analysis and findings.

    An “Access HEI level data” dashboard is also available. This looks at main graduate destination by programme type and employment outcomes for undergraduate honours degrees for each HEI.

    No data is available for the Class of 2019, as the timing of the survey coincided with the onset of COVID-19.  Therefore, the years available are the Classes of 2017-2018, and 2020-2023.

Graduate Cohort

  • 70,852 graduates  (55.0% female; 45.0% male)
  • The most common fields of study are Business, Administration & Law (25.1%), Health & Welfare (15.6%), and Arts & Humanities (11.5%).
  • 50.2% graduated from Undergraduate Honours Degree programmes; 27.6% from Taught Masters programmes.
  • The overall response rate is 49.3%.

Main Destination (all graduates)

  • Overall, 80.2% of graduates are in employment nine months after graduation (down from 83.0% for the Class of 2022 and 81.9% for the Class of 2021). Employment is highest for Education graduates (90.3%) and lowest for Arts & Humanities graduates (64.5%).
  • 10.9% of graduates are in further study nine months after graduation (up from 10.2% for the Class of 2022 and down from 11.9% for the Class of 2021).  The proportion pursuing further study is highest for Arts & Humanities graduates (21.0%) and Natural Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics graduates (17.0%), and lowest for Information & Communication graduates (5.2%).
  • Unemployment has increased from 4.4% for the Class of 2022 to 6.5% for the Class of 2023. This 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 persons aged 15-24 years (Youth Unemployment rate) the rate was 10.5%.
  • 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.

  • 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 Masters 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.

  • Institutional Data

    • 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 Honours Degree graduates from TUs are in employment nine months after graduation whereas this figure is between 64% – 85% for Universities.
    • In the University of Galway for example, 31.7% of Undergraduate Honours Degree graduates from the Class of 2022 were in further study. This compares to 10.6% of this same cohort from ATU.
    • 52.9% of all graduates who are employed are working in Professional Occupations; however this varies across institutions, more information can be found in our HEI level data following this link – Appendix (GO 2022).