Istat, one in four young people give up studies to seek employment

The figure, on the other hand, drops among those with indeterminate employment (28.9% and 22.6% the incidences among high school graduates and university graduates) and reaches the lowest levels among young people who work self-employed (21.2% and 20.0% for high school graduates and university graduates). Finally, as regards part-time, the phenomenon is widespread, involving more than 4 out of 10 high school graduates and about a third of university graduates.

Farmers, restaurateurs, teachers and nurses: overeducation also affects these categories. The highest incidences are recorded in agriculture (46.9% and 82.2% the shares of overeducated among graduates) and in the hotels and restaurants sector (47,9% and 58.1%), but is also high in the trade sector (36.1% and 49.5%), falling to the lowest in the education and health sector (11.3% and 10.2%).

The share of overeducated graduates reaches 85% among cleaners and housekeepers and agricultural workers, while it decreases for waiters and baristas (42.4%). Four out of 10 plant and machinery operators (40.9%) are over-educated, the incidence decreases to 29.3% among artisans and specialised workers, while one out of five office workers are.

Approximately 4% of young graduates were craftsmen, skilled workers, farmers, plant operators or unskilled occupations. In the world of office workers (a group involving 14.3% of graduates) over-education remains decidedly high (41.8%), especially among secretarial workers.

The employment gaps for young people no longer in education are different: the employment rate among 20-34 year olds is 1.3 points lower than the European rate for those with at most a secondary school leaving certificate, a difference that rises to 9.0 points for those with a diploma and 5.9 points among those who have also graduated.

However, the difference with Europe narrows as the time since graduation increases. Among high school graduates, the gap against Italia in the employment rate goes from 16.8 points among those who have held their degree for no more than three years to 7.9 points among those who have held it for more than three years. For university graduates, on the other hand, the gap goes from 10.6 points to 2.4 points.

Graduates hunt for occupations. The race for a job starts as soon as you have graduated. It often starts with the enrolment at university, but 6.2 per cent of students interrupted their university career immediately after starting it. In Italia, 24.5% gave up their studies to look for work.

But there are also other reasons in the ISTAT survey, such as difficulty or lack of interest in the studies undertaken. In the European average, this motivation concerns one in two (49.8%) and in Italy one in three (34.3%).

If we turn our gaze towards the relevance of the curriculum followed in relation to the profession undertaken, almost one third of the graduates assess the curriculum as being relevant to the job undertaken, for 43.7% it is only partly so and for the remaining 25.1% it is not very coherent.

The greatest relevance is recorded among graduates from technical institutes (35.1% compared to 21.3%). Moreover, even within the vocational pathways, some study addresses show a better correspondence with the type of work performed, such as for STEM addresses.