(Telestock) – In 2023, 83.5% of recent graduates and postgraduates in the EU were employed, marking an increase of 1.1 percentage points compared to 2022 (82.4%). This is revealed by a study by Eurostat which instead identifies Italy as the country with the lowest employment rate (67.5%), preceded by Greece (72.3%) and Romania (74.8%). The overall employment rate of recent graduates was equal to or above 80% in 22 EU countries. Malta led with 95.8%, followed by the Netherlands (93.2%) and Germany (91.5%).
THEand estimates refer to recent graduates aged between 20 and 34, who have completed their studies in the last 1-3 years at secondary or tertiary level (bachelor’s or master’s degree).
Over the last 10 years, there has been an increase in the employment rate of recent graduates. In 2013, the rate was 74.3% and has been steadily increasing since then. The exception was the pandemic-affected 2020 (78.7%), when a decrease of 2.3 pp was observed compared to 2019 (81.0%). In 2023, a gap of 9.6 percentage points in the employment rate of recent graduates with a tertiary education qualification (87.7%) compared to those with an average education qualification (78.1%).