HBO graduates have good papers for the labor market

HBO graduates entering the labor market hardly need to look for a job and almost all can find work at their own educational level. This conclusion can be drawn from the annual HBO Monitor of the Research Center for Education and the Labor Market (ROA) of Maastricht University, which was published today. In previous years, too, it appeared that hbo graduates find their way in the labor market just fine.

"Like a year earlier, most graduates of the 2020/2021 academic year left college during the corona pandemic. Despite the restrictive conditions associated with the pandemic, college graduates experienced successful labor market entry in 2022. The unemployment rate among recent college graduates in 2022 (2.7%) is almost the same as in 2021 (2.6%), and is very low compared to previous years. In terms of job security and entry unemployment, the labor market situation of recent college graduates is even better than ever before.  Anno 2022, 67% of recent college graduates have a permanent job, compared to 61% in 2021. In addition, 87% will find a job within one month in 2022, compared to 81% in 2021," said Barbara Belfi, project leader of the HBO-Monitor and researcher at ROA.

Tight labor market
A total of 30,000 former students who completed their studies in 2020/2021 participated in the ROA survey. Participants in the survey were more positive than last year, perhaps also helped by the tight labor market. Consequently, unemployment (2.7%) hardly plays a role among this group. Two-thirds of them have a permanent job within eighteen months of graduation. As many as 87 percent did not even have to look for a job, but had work immediately. College graduates have been doing well in the labor market for years. Particularly in 'shortage sectors' such as beta technology, healthcare and education, graduates find work very quickly and have the highest chance of finding a permanent job.

Also striking is the success of students who followed an associate degree (Ad) program: 90 percent of them found work immediately, without any search time. Ad programs comprise slightly more than half are part-time programs, that is, with students already working alongside their studies.

Labor market connection
HBO graduates are generally positive (79%) about the way their education connects to work: By far the majority of HBO graduates find a job in the field for which they were educated (77%).

The ROA and the Association of Universities of Applied Sciences jointly released a Fact Sheet with the results of the HBO Monitor 2022.