Education plays a major role in the labour market. According to Eurostat, higher levels of education are typically associated with higher employment rates and greater lifetime earnings.
However, for many recent graduates, finding a job can still take time. Competition is intense. In the UK, for instance, employers received more than 1.2 million applications for just under 17,000 graduate vacancies in 2024, according to the Institute of Student Employers (ISE). This means each graduate position attracted an average of 140 applications.
