Just over half (51%) of Honours Bachelor Degree graduates are in employment, compared to 52% in 2012. Employment prospects
of Degree graduates have improved from 2009 to 2012 (45% to 52%) with a slight fall of 1% in those employed between 2012 and
2013. Of the 2013 graduate cohort, more females than males were in employment (52% compared to 49%).
Just over half (52%) of Honours Bachelor Degree graduates reported earning initial salaries of €25,000 or under compared to 56%
in 2012, with 45% reported as earning €25,000 - €45,000 compared to 42% in 2012. This points to an overall increase in the starting
salaries of these graduates.
Arts and Humanities graduates are the least well paid, with 27% of such graduates earning less than €12,999. The most common
salary bracket for Education, Computer Science, Engineering and Health and Welfare graduates was €29,000-€32,999. The highest
proportion of those earning over €45,000 were employed in the South West region (6%).
How Many? The proportion of graduates employed in
Ireland declined from 42% in 2012 to 39% in 2013.
Highest level of Employment
Computer Science graduates were most likely to gain
employment in Ireland at 66%, followed by Agriculture and
Veterinary graduates (5%). Moreover, just over half (51%)
of Education and Health and Welfare graduates found
employment in Ireland.
Relevance
Of those employed in Ireland, 63% rated the relevance of
their qualification as relevant or most relevant to their area of
employment, 18% rated it as irrelevant/most irrelevant
while 19% were unsure.
Which sector?
In terms of those employed in the Republic of Ireland, NonMarket Services and Business, Finance and Insurance
Services employed 54.3% of the 2013 Honours Bachelor
Degree graduates. This compares to 67.6% 5 years ago.
The Manufacturing Industries were the next largest
employer at 10.2%, up from 7.4% in 2008. Generally
speaking, there is a strong correlation between faculty and
employment sector. Education graduates are finding
employment in Non-Market Services, with the majority of
these in the Secondary Education subsector.
How Many? There has been an increase in those working
overseas in 2013 – 12% compared to 10% in 2012.
Interestingly, in 2008, only 5% of graduates worked
overseas. Such a trend reflects the continued need for
graduates to pursue opportunities overseas.
Highest level of Employment
Education graduates were most likely to find employment
overseas at 25%, followed by Health and Welfare graduates at
21%. 17% of Engineering graduates found work overseas.
Relevance
Overseas graduates were slightly more likely to rate their
education as relevant to their employment. Of those
employed overseas, 64% rated the relevance of their
qualification as relevant/most relevant, 10% started
irrelevant/most irrelevant while over a quarter were unsure
(26%).
Which sector? Most graduates employed overseas were in
Non-Market Services. Computer Science and Engineering
graduates were most likely to gain employment in a relevant
employment sector to their field of study, nine months after
graduation.
Where overseas? The most popular overseas destinations for
Honours Bachelor Degree graduates included the United
Kingdom, USA, Australia, United Arab Emirates and Germany.
Compared to last year, there has been an increase in
those going on to further study, from 37% in 2012 to
40% in 2013.
Arts and Humanities graduates were most likely to go
on to further study (50%), followed closely by Science
and Maths graduates (48%) and Social Science,
Business and Law graduates (45%). Service graduates
are the least likely to go onto further study at 10%.
In terms of faculties chosen for further study, there
was a strong tendency for Arts and Humanities
graduates to engage in further study in their faculty of
origin with 41% progressing into Arts, Social Science
and Humanities. 57% of Science and Maths graduates
moved into the faculty of Science for further study.
Those seeking employment has remained
consistent between 2009 and 2012, with
a slight drop of 1% for 2013 graduates down from 7% in 2012 to 6% in 2013.
Agriculture and Veterinary and Service
graduates were most likely to be seeking
employment, both at 10%. 8% of Arts and
Humanities and 7% of Engineering
graduates are seeking employment.
Health and Welfare graduates were the
least likely to be seeking employment at
2%.
Just under half of those who graduate with a Social
Science, Business and Law honours degree proceed to
Commerce and Business studies, while a quarter chose
to study Arts, Social Science and Humanities.
The proportion of 2013 graduates unavailable for work or
study remained unchanged at 3% from the 2012 cohort of
graduates.
Service graduates were most likely to report being
unavailable for work or study (30%). 5% of Arts and
Humanities and 4% of Science and Maths graduates also
reported being unavailable for work/study.
Employment grew slightly for Higher/Postgraduate Diploma 2013 graduates – from 72% in 2012 to 73% in 2013. In terms of
gender, there are more males (14%) seeking employment than females (8%). The majority of Higher/Postgraduate Diploma
graduates were earning between €25,000and €45,000, 56% and 50% respectively.
How Many? There has been a drop in those employed in
Ireland, a reduction from 66% in 2012 to 63% in 2013.
Regional Distribution
The most common region of employment was Dublin for both
Higher Diploma (32%) and Postgraduate Diploma (27%)
graduates. The Midlands are the least popular employment
destination for such graduates, at 3%.
Relevance
Of those employed in Ireland and who responded to the
survey, 86% of Higher/Postgraduate Diploma 2013 graduates
rated their qualifications as relevant and most relevant to their
work. Only 8% rated their qualifications as irrelevant/most
irrelevant while 6% remain unsure.
All of Agriculture and Veterinary graduates rated the
significance of their qualification as relevant/most relevant to
their employment, although the numbers were small. Health
and Welfare graduates were second at 93%.
Which sector? At Higher/Postgraduate Diploma levels the overall
majority, 72.9% and 83.9% respectively, were employed in the
Non- Market Services sector, mainly in Second Level Education
and Healthcare Services.
Those engaged in further
studies has dropped
slightly, from 15% in 2012
to 14% in 2013.
There has been a 1% drop in
those seeking employment,
from 10% in 2012 to 9% in
2013.
How Many?
One in ten Higher and Postgraduate Diploma
employees of the 2013 cohort are working overseas
compared to 6% of the 2012 cohort.
Relevance
Those working overseas were less likely to rate their
qualifications as relevant compared to those working
in Ireland. Of those employed overseas and who
responded to the study, 62% of Higher Diploma and
Postgraduate Diploma 2013 graduates rated their
qualifications as relevant/most relevant to their work.
Which sector? In a similar vein to those working in
Ireland, the vast majority of Higher and Postgraduate
Diploma graduates overseas were employed in the
Non-Market Services sector (88.2% and 66.2%
respectively), with secondary education the main
employers.
There has been no
change in terms of those
unavailable for work or
study – it stands at 2% for
the 2013 and 2012
cohorts of Higher and
Postgraduate Diploma
graduates.
There has been a steady increase since 2008 in Postgraduate Masters and Doctorate graduates gaining employment. A very
high proportion, 73%, of Masters and Doctorate 2013 graduates were in employment 9 months after graduation – a slight
improvement on the previous year’s graduate cohort (72%). More males (74%) than females (72%) are in employment nine
months after graduation.
As one would expect, there is a correlation between education and salary – as education increases so too does salary. 12% of
Masters Taught graduates, 22% of Masters Research graduates and 28% of Doctorate graduates report earning over €45,000,
nine months after graduation. The majority of Taught Masters, Research Masters and Doctorate graduates reported earning
between €25,000 and €45,000 (47%, 50% and 61% respectively).
How Many? There has been a slight decrease in those working
in Ireland, from 61% in 2012 to 58% in 2013.
Highest level of Employment
Computer Science graduates are most likely to find employment
in Ireland, at 66%, followed by Health and Welfare graduates at
62%.
Regional Distribution
Dublin is the region of most employment across all levels, with
43% of Taught Masters, 37% of Research Masters and 32% of
Doctorates. After Dublin, the highest proportion of Research
Masters and Doctorate graduates employed in Ireland are in the
South West (16% and 21% respectively).
Relevance
In terms of those who are employed in Ireland, the majority of
Masters and Doctorate 2013 (75%) graduates report that their
qualification is relevant/most relevant to their employment, with
13% stating it was irrelevant/most irrelevant.
Which sector? In terms of those who are employed in Ireland,
the majority of Taught Master graduates were employed in
Business, Finance and Insurance Services at 32.8% compared to
23.2% in 2008, while the majority of Research Masters graduates
were employed in the Non-Marker Services sector, at 38.6%
compared to 52.9% in 2008. A significant proportion of
Doctorate graduates are re-employed in the Third Level Sector
at 39.9%, down from 46.7% in 2008.
How Many? There has been a 4% increase in
Masters and Doctorate graduates employed
overseas in the last year, up from 11% in 2012 to
15% in 2013. One in ten Higher/Postgraduate
Diploma employees of the 2013 cohort are working
overseas compared to 6% of the 2012 cohort.
Highest level of Employment
Education graduates are most likely to find
employment overseas (26%), followed by Engineering
(16%) and Social Science, Business and Law (16%)
graduates.
Relevance
In terms of those who are employed overseas, 75%
reported that their educational qualifications were
relevant/most relevant to their work, while only 4%
rated it as irrelevant/most irrelevant. A further 21%
were in the unsure category. Health and Welfare
graduates were most likely to report their education
as relevant/most relevant (81%) while Service
graduates were least likely to do so (25%).
Which sector?
In terms of those who are employed overseas, the
majority of graduates are employed in Non-Market
Services.
Where Overseas? The top destinations were the UK,
USA, China, Germany and Australia.
The percentage of
graduates who are in
further study has
remained consistent
over the last two
years, at 11%.
Arts and Humanities
and Agriculture and
Veterinary graduates
were most likely to go
on to further study,
both at 17%.
There has been a drop in
the
percentage
of
graduates
seeking
employment in the last
year, going from 13% in
2012 to 11% in 2013.
Service graduates are
most likely to be seeking
employment at 17%,
followed by Arts and
Humanities and Science
and Maths graduates, both
at
16%.
Education
graduates were the least
likely to be seeking
employment, at 2%.
Only 4% of Masters and Doctorate
graduates report being unavailable
for work or study. This remains
consistent with last year’s cohort.
Service graduates were most likely to
be unavailable for work or study (10%)
while Education graduates were the
least likely (1%).
There has been a drop in the proportion of Honours Bachelor Degree in Education graduates in employment in the last
5 years. In 2009, 95% of such graduates were in employment, dropping to 88% in 2013.
17% are employed in Ireland, 64% of which
are in temporary, substitute or part-time
teaching, 4% are in permanent or wholetime teaching while 3% are employed in
other work.
In terms of gender, more males (6%) than
females (4%) are in permanent teaching
jobs, while conversely more females (64%)
than males (60%) are in temporary,
substitute or part-time teaching.
5% of graduates are in
further
study
or
training, compared to
4% of the 2012
graduate cohort.
17% are employed overseas with 16% teaching
abroad and 1% working in ‘other areas’ overseas.
There has been a significant increase in such
graduates teaching abroad over the last 5 years,
going up from 1% in 2009 to 16% in 2013.
More females than males are teaching abroad, 19%
compared to 8%, while slightly more males (2%) are
employed in ‘other work’ overseas than females
(1%).
There has been a rise in the proportion of graduates
seeking employment, rising from 2% in 2012 to 6% in
2013. More males (8%) than females (5%) are
seeking employment.
78% of those graduating from the Professional Diploma in Education in 2013 gained employment.
Of those employed in Ireland,
8% are in permanent positions,
23% are in temporary whole
time jobs, while 34% are in parttime jobs.
Of those employed overseas,
7% are in permanent positions,
9% are in temporary wholetime jobs while 2% are in parttime positions.
14% of Professional
graduates
are
employment.
Diploma
seeking
6% of Professional Diploma
graduates went on to further study.
A high proportion of Postgraduate Diploma in Primary Teaching graduates are in employment, at 92%. This compares
to 89% of the 2012 graduate cohort.
While a high proportion of these graduates (86%) are
employed in Ireland, the data over the last 5 years shows a
significant decline in the proportions of such graduates gaining
permanent, whole-time teaching contracts, from 19% in 2009
to just 6% in 2013. This has coincided with an increase in those
working on temporary, substitute or part-time teaching
contracts, increasing from 74% in 2009 to 80% in 2013.
More males (8%) than females (6%) are in permanent
positions. Likewise, more males (92%) than females (77%) are
in temporary, substitute or part-time jobs.
The proportions of such graduates teaching
abroad has remained relatively stable over the
last 5 years and is currently at 6%. In terms of
gender, there are no males graduates teaching
overseas, compared to 8% of females.
The proportions seeking employment halved from
10% in 2012 to 5% in 2013. There are no males in
this category, only females (at 6%).
Further Study
3% are in further study or training, compared to 2% of last year’s cohort. Interestingly, there are only females in this category.