Educated but still unemployed: How does unemployment vary among university graduates across Europe?
Yes. Across all EU countries, the unemployment rate is lower for university graduates than for the general population.
However, it is still not possible to say 'yes' for all countries because there is one exception among 33 European countries as of 2024: Turkey. University graduates face a higher unemployment rate than the overall population in Turkey, according to Eurostat.
Both the unemployment gap and the unemployment ratio between graduates and the total population vary widely across Europe. So, in which countries does higher education make the biggest difference?
In 2024, among 33 countries, including EU member states, EU candidates, and EFTA countries, the unemployment rate for people aged 15–74 ranged from 2.6% in Czechia to 11.4% in Spain. These figures reflect the overall population, without considering education levels. The EU average was 5.9%.
At the top, Greece (10.1%), Turkey (8.8%), Serbia (8.6%), and both Finland and Sweden (8.4%) followed Spain, reporting unemployment rates above 8%.
At the bottom of the list, together with Czechia, Poland (2.9%), Malta (3.1%), Germany (3.4%), Iceland (3.6%), as well as the Netherlands and Slovenia (both 3.7%), recorded unemployment rates below 4%.
University graduates and unemployment: The countries with the highest rates
Among university graduates, defined as those with tertiary education, according to the ISCED classification, unemployment rates in 2024 ranged from 1.4% in Czechia and Poland to 9.2% in Turkey. The EU average stood at 3.8%.
After Turkey, the highest unemployment rates among university graduates were recorded in Greece (7.3%), Spain (6.9%), Serbia (6.5%), and France (5%).
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Unemployment gap: Overall population vs university graduates
When comparing unemployment rates between the general population and university graduates, Turkey was the only country in 2024 where the rate was higher for university graduates than for the overall population. The difference was –0.4 percentage points (pp).
'It is indeed unusual for the unemployment rate among tertiary education graduates to be greater than others in the workforce,' OECD's Turkey desk told Euronews.
The largest gap was recorded in Spain by 4.5 pp. The unemployment rate was 11.4% for the overall population compared to 6.9% for university graduates in Spain. The EU average was 2.1 pp (5.9% vs 3.8%).
Since unemployment rates vary significantly across countries, absolute differences may not fully reflect the extent of the gap. To better compare countries, the ratio between the unemployment rate of the general population and that of university graduates can be useful.
A ratio below 1 indicates that the unemployment rate is higher among the tertiary-educated than the general population. A ratio of 1 means there is no difference between the two groups. The higher the ratio goes above 1, the more significantly unemployment is higher among the general population than among university graduates.
EU: General unemployment 55% higher than among graduates
Turkey is the only country with a ratio below 1, at 0.96, while the EU average stands at 1.55. This means that, in the EU, the unemployment rate among the general population is, on average, 1.55 times that of university graduates—or 55% higher.
The ratio is also 1.23 in Cyprus, 1.26 in Switzerland, and 1.31 in Germany, and 1.32 in Denmark, the Netherlands, and Serbia. This suggests that unemployment rates among the general population and university graduates are relatively close in these countries.
Romania (2.84), Slovakia (2.65), Bulgaria (2.63) and Hungary (2.50) have the highest ratios, meaning university graduates have significantly lower unemployment rates than the overall population.
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No other country has ever shared Turkey's case
Is 2024 an exception? What about other years? Euronews Business also looked at the period from 2004 to 2024.
Over these 21 years, Turkey was the only country where university graduates faced a higher unemployment rate than the general population. This fact occurred in 12 different years, starting in 2011. No other country recorded this even once during the entire period according to the data available from Eurostat.
The line chart also shows a downward trend in the EU, indicating that the unemployment gap between the tertiary-educated and the overall population is narrowing.
In 2022, Turkey had the third-lowest share of tertiary graduates in Europe, following Romania (17.4%) and Italy (18.5%). In Turkey, 20.6% of the population aged 25–74 held a university degree according to Eurostat.
University boom in Turkey
However, this picture may change for Turkey. In 2019, Turkey had the highest rate of university students relative to its population, with 95 students per 1,000 people—more than double the EU average of 38, according to Eurostat.
According to Turkey's Higher Education Board, there were 53 public universities in 2003. This number rose dramatically to 129 by 2018. As of 2024, Turkey has 129 public universities and 75 private, foundation-based universities, bringing the total to 204.
'This rapid expansion was, in part, due to a government policy to establish a university in every province,' OECD told Euronews.
According to OECD's Turkey desk, as in many countries, the quantity of tertiary-level graduates has grown faster than the number of jobs that require a degree. As a result this has eroded the previous benefits of having a university degree — ease of getting a job and higher wages.
'In Türkiye's case the erosion has been extreme, notably as regards rates of unemployment,' OECD officials told.
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OECD: Time to prioritise the quality of tertiary education
OECD explained that 'rapid expansion of the university sector has made it difficult to uphold the quality of tertiary courses, aggravating the decline in labour-market returns to students'.
'As our surveys point out, the government's tertiary education policy needs to now prioritise the quality of tertiary education and the relevance of courses for the labour market."
OECD also noted that there seems to be a large gap between the skills demanded by the labour market and the skills acquired by students in universities in Turkey. Their survey points to Turkey's relative low share of graduates in STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) subjects.
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