Statistical Yearbook of Ireland 2019

The NACE sectors that graduates were employed in were examined at one, three and five years after graduation. Among 2012 graduates who were in substantial employment in the first year after graduation, around 20% worked in Wholesale & Retail Trade, and a further 10% worked in Accommodation & Food Service Activities. The proportion employed in these two sectors fell substantially over the following four years; by five years after graduation only 9.8% of those employed were in Wholesale & Retail Trade while Accommodation & Food Service Activities represented only 2.9% of the total employed. It should be noted that a substantial proportion of those in employment in the first year after graduation were also enrolled in education (see figure 7.2). It is probable that many of these were engaged in part-time work as they continued their studies. The move away from these two NACE sectors may be associated with a move towards greater full-time employment as more graduates complete their education. 

The NACE sector with the highest proportion of graduates at five years was Education, with 17.3%, and this was followed by Professional, Scientific & Technical Activities at 13.6%. The proportion in Education increased between one and five years after graduation, from 13.2% to 17.3%. The proportion of graduates working in Public Administration & Defence also rose substantially over the same period, from 1.5% in the first year after graduation to 5.1% after five years. 

Graduate earnings were also analysed after one, three and five years. Among those who graduated in 2012, the field with the highest median weekly earnings was Education, with €615 per week. This was followed by Health & Welfare with €530 per week. Graduates from Information and Communication Technologies had the third highest earnings of €520 per week in the first year after graduation, but this was also the field which saw the greatest increase in earnings over the following four years. By five years after graduation, graduates from Information and Communication Technologies had the highest weekly earnings of €815 per week. The second highest earnings after five years were among graduates from Engineering, Manufacturing & Construction with €730 per week. The fields with the lowest weekly earnings were Services and Arts & Humanities. After five years, graduates from Services had median weekly earnings of €530 while for Arts & Humanities the figure was €585 per week. 

Among 2010 graduates, 27.2% were enrolled in Higher Education in the first year following graduation, and 43.6% were enrolled in Further Education, with an overlap between these categories of 6.4% (the proportion enrolled in both sectors within the same calendar year). By 2016, the proportion going in to Higher Education had increased to 30.4% (a rise of 3.2 percentage points), while the proportion taking on another course in Further Education had fallen to 38.1% (a drop of 5.5 percentage points). 

Among apprentices that qualified in 2010, just 52.9% were in substantial employment within two years of completing their apprenticeship. This was made up of 43.3% in employment only and 9.6% in employment and education. Over the following years, the proportion of qualified apprentices that found employment increased substantially, with four out of five apprentices qualifying in 2014 gaining substantial employment two years after completion (65.1% in employment only and 14.4% in employment and education). The proportion that were in 'neither employment nor education' fell by more than half over the same period, from 17.4% for apprentices qualifying in 2010 to 6.8% for those who completed their course in 2014. There was also a reduction in the proportion who were 'not captured' two years after their course, from 21.6% for 2010 apprentices to just 11.3% for those finishing in 2014.