European and national policies on Vocational Education and Training (VET) need to be informed by sound and internationally comparable statistical evidence. The VET country statistical overviews are concise, descriptive and user friendly statistical reports. For each country, they quantify and compare key aspects of VET and lifelong learning. The selection is based on the indicators' policy relevance and their importance in achieving the Europe 2020 objectives.

VET indicators for Ireland for the last available year
Index numbers (EU=100)

NB:   The index numbers are derived from data summarised in the table. Data in the table have been rounded to one or two decimal places. The calculation of index numbers is instead based on not rounded data.

Greece’s performance on a range of indicators selected to monitor progress in VET and lifelong learning across the European Union (EU) is summarised below. The chart compares the situation in Greece with that of the EU, based on the most recent data available (this differs by indicator). Data in the chart are presented as an index where the EU average equals 100. If the index for a selected indicator for Greece is 100, then its performance equals the EU average. If the index is 90, its performance is 90% of (or 10% below) the EU average. If the index is 200, Greece’s performance is twice (or 200%) the EU average. For some indicators, such as early leavers from education and training, a country is performing better if its score is below that of the EU average.

Data on which the index is calculated are presented in the table, which also shows developments over time. A technical definition of each indicator is provided in the annex.

Key points 

Access, attractiveness and flexibility

The chart illustrates that, where data are available, Greece has relatively low figures on many of the indicators in this group compared with the EU average. The share of upper secondary students enrolled in IVET is low (29.9% compared to 47.3% for the EU in 2015). Female enrolment figures differ even more: 20.1% of females in upper secondary education are enrolled in IVET compared to 42.0% in the EU. In contrast, the share of upper secondary IVET with direct access to tertiary education (87.1%) is well above the EU average (66.7%).

The percentage of adults involved in lifelong learning in 2016 (4.0%) is lower than the EU average (10.8%), and far below the average target (15%) set by the strategic framework Education and training 2020. Participation in lifelong learning by adults with low-level education (0.7%), unemployed adults (3.3%) and older adults (1.3%) is also lower in Greece than the EU.

Based on 2010 CVTS data, employee participation in CVT courses (especially in small firms) and on-the-job training suggest that employer-sponsored training is less frequent than in the EU generally. The proportion of individuals who wanted to train but did not (17.3%) is higher than the EU average (9.5%) (based on 2011 data).

Skill development and labour market relevance

Data are missing for several indicators of this group; where data are available, indicators for Greece are mostly below EU averages.

The employment rate for IVET graduates (20-34) at medium level of education (ISCED 3-4) differs strongly from the EU average (58.7% in Greece and 78.1% in the EU). The employment rate for IVET graduates is lower than for graduates from general education at the same ISCED levels by 1.0 percentage point (in the EU as a whole is 5.7 percentage points higher). In Greece, the employment rate for IVET graduates is only 8.5 percentage points higher than for graduates with lower-level qualifications (the employment premium is positive but much lower than the EU average of 23.4). All these employment figures relate to 2016 and exclude young people in further education and training.

Overall transitions and labour market trends

In this section all data refer to 2016 unless otherwise stated.

The NEET rate in Greece (21.9%) and the unemployment rate for 20 to 34 year-olds (32.7%) are much higher than the corresponding EU averages (15.2% and 11.8%, respectively). The latter indicator has increased by 13.2 percentage points between 2010 and 2016. At 49.2%, the employment rate of recent graduates is markedly below the corresponding value for the EU as a whole (78.2%). This rate has also decreased by 9.4 percentage points between 2010 and 2016. This percentage is also well below the EU target of 82%. In sum, all unemployment- and employment-related indicators have changed substantially in an unfavourable direction between 2010 and 2016.

Educational attainment for young people compares favourably within the EU context. The share of 30 to 34 year-olds who have completed tertiary-level education (42.7%) is higher than the EU average (39.1%). Due to an increase between 2010 and 2016, it achieves both the Europe 2020 average target (40%) and the national target (32%). The rate of early leavers from education and training is lower than the EU average (6.2% compared to 10.7%) and it fell more than in the EU between 2010 and 2016 (7.3 percentage points and 3.2 percentage points yearly respectively). At 6.2%, it achieves both the Europe 2020 average target (10%) and the national target (9.7%). However, the share of adults with lower level of educational attainment continues to be higher (28.2%) than in the EU (23.0%).

Score on VET indicators in Ireland and in the EU, 2010,
last available year and recent change

EU refers to EU-28, unless otherwise specified. Arrows ↗ or ↘ signal a positive or negative change. Arrow → indicates: no change.

(A) UOE back reconstruction of 2010 values based on ISCED 2011 not yet available. (B) AES 2011, used as proxy for 2010 baseline. (C) 2014 b flags in Eurostat online tables ignored on the basis of other relevant Eurostat metadata. (D) Forecast made in 2016. (E1) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for NL. (E2) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for EL, ES, NL, PL, RO. (E3) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for IT, NL. (E4) Based on 23 countries (missing: DK, EL, HR, IT, PT), with partial information for IE and FR. (E5) Based on 23 countries (missing: DK, EL, HR, IT, PT), with partial information for IE and FR. (E6) Based on 28 countries, with partial information for DK, EL, NL. (E7) Based on 25 countries (missing: HR, IT, UK), with partial information for BE, CZ, DK, DE, EE, EL, LU, NL, PL, SE. (E8) Based on 25 countries (missing: IE, FR, UK), with partial information for BE, EL, LU. (E9) Based on 26 countries (missing: IE, UK), with partial information for DK, DE. (E10) Based on 28 countries. (b) Break after 2010, therefore baseline data not included. (u) Eurostat: ‘low reliability’. (z) Eurostat: ‘not applicable’. (e) Eurostat: ‘estimated’.

Country-specific report details

Country report type
Keywords

Downloads

Statistical overview on VET - Greece - 2017 edition

EN 188.52 KB

Annex 1 – Short descriptions of indicators and additional notes

EN 74.35 KB

Annex 2 – Reading the Country statistical overviews

EN 39.5 KB

Annex 3 – 2017 Masterfile Country statistical overviews

EN 488.58 KB