‘We must grasp this opportunity to provide our future graduates with new skills, and new ways of thinking and working; reduce inequality in education and employment; and provide for a vibrant social, cultural, and economic future.’

– Dr Vivienne Patterson, Head of Skills, Engagement and Statistics.

Executive Summary

• 72,148 graduates across 23 HEIs (54% female; 46% male)     
• The most common fields of study are Business, Administration & Law (27.2%), Health & Welfare (15.6%), and Arts & Humanities (11.7%)
• 49.9% graduated from Undergraduate Honours Degree programmes; 24.7% from Taught Masters programmes
• The overall response rate is 50.3%.
• Overall, 81.9% of graduates are in employment 9 months after graduation (up from 75.9% for the Class of 2020 and 80.1% for the Class of 2018). Employment is highest for Education graduates (94.2%) and lowest for Arts & Humanities graduates (65%).

Undergraduate Honours Degrees

• More than three-quarters of graduates are employed 9 months after graduation (75.8%), up significantly from 69.7% in 2020, and slightly above 74.7% in 2018. The proportion of graduates pursuing further study has decreased slightly to 18.3% in 2021, down from 20.9% in 2020. Unemployment has decreased to 3.9% in 2021, down from 7.2% in 2020.
• 63.7% of Undergraduate Honours Degree graduates are on permanent or open-ended contracts.
• The most common occupation for graduates nine months after graduation is Professional Occupations (49%).
• 9 months after graduation, 91% of employed graduates are working in Ireland. Dublin is the most common county of employment (43.1%), followed by Cork (13.8%) and Galway (7.1%).
• In 2021, 53% of graduates completed internships. This is down from 61.6% in 2020. •    More than six in ten graduates consider their course very relevant or relevant to their job (62.8%).
• The most common sources of employment include personal contacts (19.8%), recruitment sites (19.7%), and already working there (17.3%)

Postgraduate Taught Graduates

• 9 months after graduation, 89.7% of Postgraduate Taught graduates were in employment. In 2020, this was 84.9% and in 2018 88.4%. The proportion of graduates pursuing further study remained steady, at 3.6% in 2021, and 4% in 2020. Unemployment has decreased, at 4.6% in 2021, down from 8.9% in 2020.
• Almost three in five Postgraduate Taught graduates (58.6%) are employed in Professional Occupations, nine months after graduation.
• More than half (59%) of graduates earn more than €35,000 per annum.
• Nearly three quarters believe that their course is relevant to their job (71.8%).

Postgraduate Research Graduates

• In 2021, 89.6% of Postgraduate Research graduates were employed 9 months after graduation, down from 91.2% in 2020 and slightly up from 2018 when it was 88.5%. The proportion of graduates pursuing further study increased, at 3.3% in 2021, up from 2.2% in 2020. Meanwhile, unemployment decreased to 3.4% in 2021, down from 4.8% in 2020.
• A total of 80.7% are earning more than €35,000 per annum.