To contextualise the labour market outcomes of IVET graduates better, the following indicator compares their employment rate with that for graduates from the general stream.
The indicator is defined as the difference between the employment rates of IVET graduates at a medium level of education attainment and the rate for those who graduated, at the same ISCED levels, from the general education stream. The rate for IVET graduates is defined as in the previous section: the employment rate of 20-34 year-olds with a vocational qualification at ISCED 3-4 as their highest educational level and no longer in formal or non-formal education and training. The difference is obtained by subtracting from it the comparable rate for graduates from the general stream of education. Both the employment rates exclude graduates in further formal or non-formal education and training and refer to 20-34 year-olds. The difference is expressed in percentage points.
Figure 24: Employment premium for IVET graduates (over general stream)
Source: Eurostat, EU labour force survey.
Key points
In 2016, the employment rate for EU IVET graduates with a medium level of education attainment (ISCED 3-4) was 5.7 percentage points higher than that for those who graduated from the general stream at the same level. Compared to the latter, IVET graduates enjoyed a positive employment premium (a higher employment rate) in most of EU countries. The difference was greatest in Germany ( by 23.2 percentage points). Only, in Greece, Portugal and the Czech Republic, the employment rate for general education graduates was higher than that for graduates from the VET stream. The United Kingdom reports a very low, but still positive, employment premium. In the period 2014-2016 the employment premium for VET graduates over those with general education, went slightly down (by 0.5 percentage points), with diversified trends at country level. Of particular magnitude (over 5 percentage points) were the drops in Bulgaria, Czech Republic and Slovenia as well as increases in Cyprus, Lithuania and Finland.
Among the non-EU countries for which data are available, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (at 12.9 percentage points) and Turkey (at 8.7 percentage points) had premiums above the EU average. The employment premium in Norway (at 5.4 percentage points) was near the EU average and in Iceland (at 3.2 percentage points) it was lower.
Table 24: Employment premium for IVET graduates (over general stream)
Arrows ↗ or ↘ signal a positive or negative trend based on more than two data points and of magnitude 0.1 per year or more. Trends based on more than two data points but of smaller magnitude are indicated by →; trends based on two points only are marked ▪. Trends are estimated by means of regression models.
(b) Break after 2010. Therefore baseline data not included. (u) Eurostat: "low reliability". (z) Eurostat: "not applicable". (e) Eurostat: "estimated".
Source: Cedefop calculations based on Eurostat, EU labour force survey.
Data insights details
