Maltese graduates are the most likely in Europe to walk into a job, with almost 96% of graduates finding a job within three years of finishing their studies, according to new EU data published on Wednesday.
The employment rate of graduates in Malta has remained high throughout most of this century but had dipped below the 90% mark for the first time in two decades in 2021 and 2022, as graduate employment rates dropped throughout Europe following the outbreak of COVID-19.
But 2023 saw this bounce back to an almost all-time high of 95.8%, well above the European average of 83.5% and just above second-placed the Netherlands, according to data from Eurostat, the EU's statistical office.
Malta remains a geographical anomaly in this respect, being the only Mediterranean or Southern European country to register a rate above the EU average.
Other Mediterranean states, from Cyprus (80.6%) to Spain (78.7%), France (80.1%) and Greece (72.3%) drag the EU average down, with neighbouring Italy propping up the European table at 67.5%.
Graduate employment figures in Malta remain high across all educational levels.
A little over 96% of graduates with a tertiary education find a job within one to three years of graduation, while this figure drops slightly to 90% for those with a non-tertiary education.
These results are unsurprising when viewed in light of Malta’s broader employment rate, with the country frequently topping EU tables for employment growth.
However, the data does not delve into the nature of the jobs, raising questions over whether graduates are landing in jobs that match their skillset.
A 2022 study by the National Statistics Office found that more than a third of all workers in Malta are over-qualified for their jobs, with women and youths, in particular, tending to find themselves in jobs beneath their skillset.
Early school leavers still above EU median
Although Malta is succeeding in getting graduates into jobs, it is battling to get people to stay in school in the first place, with a government strategy launched last year hoping to bring Malta’s rate of early school leavers in line with the EU average.
Currently, one in ten 18-24 year-olds in Malta are early-school leavers, meaning they achieved fewer than two O-level exams and did not continue studying or training.
Although this has dropped significantly from over 21% in 2010, it remains above the EU median, with the strategy aiming to bring this down to 9% by 2030.