In 2023, 83.5% of recent graduates in the EU were employed, marking an increase of 1.1 percentage point (pp) compared with 2022 (82.4%). Recent graduates are individuals aged 20-34, who completed their studies within the past 1 to 3 years at medium or tertiary education levels.
Over the past 10 years, there was an increase in the employment rate of recent graduates. In 2013, the rate was 74.3% and has been rising steadily since then. The exception was the pandemic-affected 2020 (78.7%), when a decrease of 2.3 pp was observed compared with 2019 (81.0%).
Latvia's rate in 2023 was slightly better than the EU average at 85.2% – and was better than the equivalent figures of both Estonia (84.7%) and Lithuania (80.0%).
The overall employment rate of recent graduates was 80% or higher in 22 EU countries. Malta led with 95.8%, followed by the Netherlands (93.2%) and Germany (91.5%).
The lowest employment rates were recorded in Italy (67.5%), Greece (72.3%) and Romania (74.8%).
