Nowadays, individuals can train for nearly any profession. However, how many recent graduates genuinely remain within their studied disciplines after entering the workforce?
Life rarely follows a straight trajectory, so if your current occupation doesn’t align with your degree, you’re likely far from alone.
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Approximately one in three young graduates (32%) holding at least a bachelor’s degree are employed outside the scope of their academic specialty, reveals Eurostat.
Graduates from arts and humanities fields tend to diverge most significantly from their original area of expertise.
Nearly half (48%) alter their professional path, marking the lowest continuity among the surveyed disciplines. Retention is marginally better among journalism and social science graduates, yet even within these areas, 40% eventually transition to different sectors, whether driven by preference or circumstance.
Health and IT graduates tend to remain within their disciplines
Conversely, graduates from health professions—such as doctors and nurses—are far more inclined to maintain career alignment, with 81% occupying roles closely related to their education.
Similarly, 77% of IT graduates preserve their field focus. This trend extends to those educated in teaching (74%) and engineering and manufacturing (73%).
In particular, the manufacturing sector in the EU shows growth in job opportunities: Eurostat’s provisional data indicates a +4.2% rise in the job vacancy rate between 2019 and 2023, marking the largest increase among sectors.
Higher alignment rates observed in Hungary, Slovenia, and Latvia
Nationality appears influential in the likelihood of working within one’s trained discipline.
For instance, Hungary boasts a high retention rate of 86%. Germany also stands out with 76%, surpassing comparable economies. Meanwhile, France reports 65%, Spain 64%, and Italy 62%, positioning near the lower end of the spectrum, with Denmark at 56% completing the ranking.
Therefore, while a degree plays a role, the post-graduation career trajectory often diverges considerably—especially relevant today, as roughly a quarter of Europeans consider switching job sectors and experimenting with various career routes amid market fluctuations and unpredictability.
Which professions might face the greatest impact from AI?
Artificial intelligence and technological advances could strongly influence such career transitions and also foster greater workforce adaptability in the future.
The consulting company McKinsey predicts that by 2030, 94 million workers across Europe will require retraining due to automation progress.
The report highlights that accommodation and food services could experience the highest job displacement (94%), followed by arts (80%), wholesale and retail (68%), construction (58%), and transportation and storage (50%).
These trends are already affecting employees: concern over imminent AI-driven job losses registered 43% in the Manpower 2026 Talent Barometer, rising five percentage points from 2025.