Ranking of developed countries with the highest employment rates

The small Mediterranean island has the highest employment rate for new graduates in Europe, a new survey shows. Below, Study Abroad will take you through which European country has the highest graduate employment rate.

Research by the British Institute of Knowledge shows that Malta currently has the highest employment rate of fresh graduates in Europe, at 94.5%. Germany follows closely behind with a graduate employment rate of 90.9%. The graduate employment rate in the Netherlands is 90.4%. Slightly behind these three countries are the Czech Republic (89.9%), Austria (89.4%) and Sweden (88.3%). In the UK, the employment rate for fresh graduates is 86.6%.

Fresh graduates refer to those who have graduated within the last one to three years and are currently employed without receiving any further education or training. The three countries with the lowest recent graduate employment rates are Croatia (65.9%), Italy (55.2%) and Greece (52%).

The EU is working with member states to achieve the employment target of 82% of graduates by 2020. Some countries have already achieved this, while others still have work to do. In 2014, the average employment rate of EU graduates was 76%, rising to 80.2% in 2017.