A total of 80.6% of recent graduates in Cyprus were employed in 2023, while the European Union (EU) average stood at 83.5%, according to data published on Wednesday, by Eurostat.

According to the survey, the average EU rate increased by 1.1 percentage point compared with 2022 (82.4%).

As it is noted, the survey included recent graduates aged 20-34 who have completed their studies within the past 1 to 3 years at medium or tertiary education levels.

It is added that 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 percentage points was observed compared with 2019 (81.0%). 

At the same time, at European level in 2023, there was a 9.6 percentage points gap in the employment rate of recent graduates with tertiary educational attainment (87.7%) compared with those with medium education (78.1%).

It is noted that 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%), while the lowest employment rates were recorded in Italy (67.5%), Greece (72.3%) and Romania (74.8%).