Analytics, Education and Science, Estonia, Markets and Companies, Wages

In higher education, graduates of information and communications technology (ICT), transport and security services and technical fields earn higher salaries. When it comes to vocational education, graduates of security service, fishery, forestry and technical fields earn higher salaries. This year was the first time ever that the area of employment was examined alongside income and employment rates in the analysis.

Minister of Education and Research Mailis Reps said that knowing which fields young professionals are going to work in will provide an opportunity to take greater account of employers' feedback on graduates' skills in the future. "The better the preparation with which school graduates head to work, the more all involved parties, that is the employee, employer and the state, will benefit from it," Reps said.

Work and the field that was studied are connected the most for graduates of ICT, security services, health and education fields. For example, 75% of graduates of the education field in higher education studies work in the corresponding field, while 76% of healthcare graduates work in healthcare and 86% of graduates of security services work in the fields of public administration and national defense.

Further education choices of secondary education graduates are quite different. While graduates of general secondary education continue their education, then people who hold vocational secondary education rather tend to start work. Of the graduates of vocational secondary education, 73% are engaged in employment and only 11% combine studies and work. Altogether 63% of general secondary education graduates work, while altogether 39% combine studies and work.

The salaries of graduates of general secondary education and vocational secondary education harmonize over time. Six years after graduation, the salaries of people who did not continue studies after finishing general secondary education are on average 987 euros, while those of vocational secondary education graduates are 996 euros. In terms of salary, those faring better on the labor market are secondary education graduates who have acquired more skills and knowledge in formal education later as well.

Approximately a quarter of foreign students stay on the Estonian labor market after graduation. Among those are mostly graduates of business and administration, social and behavioral sciences and technical fields.