Surprising Salary Stats For Arts Graduates Who Left Irish Universities In 2016 Have Been Revealed

A survey has just been released by the Higher Education Authority (HEA) that contains some surprising statistics for those who graduated from Irish universities in recent years.

Published under the title What Do Graduates Do? The Class of 2016 — An Analysis of the First Destination of University Graduates, the study asked more than 18,200 graduates to reveal where they went after their studies, how relevant their qualifications were to their job, what sections they entered and more.

Perhaps the most surprising section of the research is that of salary. The survey revealed that:

• 40% of 2016 Honours Bachelor Degree graduates command a salary of less than €25k 
• The highest proportion of those earning €37k or over are in the South East (11%) and West (11%) regions (Honours Bachelor Degree graduates)
• 40% of Honours Bachelor Degree graduates earn under €25k but this drops to 9% for Doctorate graduates
• 35% of Doctorate graduates report earning over €45k compared to 18% of Higher Diploma and 3% of Honours Bachelor Degree graduates
• Arts and Humanities Honours Bachelor Degree graduates are the least well paid, with 15% earning less than €13k
• The largest proportion of Honours Bachelor Degree Health and Welfare (32%), Education (32%), ICT (29%), Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction (28%), ICT (29%) and Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics (21%) graduates are earning between €29k and €33k

The survey also revealed that all graduates found that the most job opportunities were in Dublin, that the most common sector of employment for Honours Bachelor Degree graduates is the Non-Market Services sector and that the UK is the most popular destination for those now working overseas.

You can read What Do Graduates Do? The Class of 2016 — An Analysis of the First Destination of University Graduates in full HERE.

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