These are the vocational training degrees with the most (and least) job opportunities in Catalonia.
Families in the extractive and chemical industries are those with the most graduates working within nine months.
BarcelonaThe Department of Education and Vocational Training and the Council of Chambers of Commerce of Catalonia presented this Monday theStudy of job placement in vocational educationThe document analyzes the Catalan labor sector in relation to the studies completed by workers based on data from students who graduated in the 2022-2023 academic year and should serve two primary purposes. On the one hand, to provide future students of vocational training (VT) degrees with a reference to the job opportunities available for each degree. On the other hand, it should be one of the bases for rethinking and restructuring the studies and VT offerings available in Catalonia.
Among many other variables, this report presents data on the proportion of students who graduated from VT nine months ago in each professional group who are working, which are working and studying, which are continuing only their studies, or which are simply looking for work. All of this was concluded by cross-referencing the data of 18,410 students who responded to a survey with data from 15,981 questionnaires recorded by educational centers.
Vocational training families with the most working graduates
Thus, in terms of the proportion of graduates already working, the best-off vocational group by far is the extractive industries, i.e., degrees in excavation and surveying, construction machinery operations, and natural stone. In this vocational group, 62% of graduates are working (the highest proportion of all), but, paradoxically, it is also the sector where the most graduates report they are looking for work (20.6%).
This situation, as explained by the Director General of Vocational Training, Ricard Gomà, is due to the fact that this sector "has a very limited supply of training places and very little training continuity"; that is, there are no higher vocational training degrees. In fact, the survey also does not include any graduates from this group who are working and studying at the same time, and it is the only one in the report that finds itself in this situation.
The second most highly-educated professional group (53%) is chemistry, followed by energy and water (49%), installation and maintenance (48%), food industries (47%), and maritime and fishing (46%). In fact, more than 40% of students in the profession are employed, including wood, furniture, and cork, safety and the environment, and hospitality and tourism.
The report also details the proportion of graduates who are studying and working simultaneously, but without specifying whether the students are working in a field related to their studies or not. Thus, the sectors with the most students studying and working simultaneously are sociocultural and community services (31.8%), sports education (30.9%), mechanical manufacturing (23%), and wood, furniture, and cork (22%).
FP families with more graduates looking for work
If we look at the proportion of graduates who do not continue studying and are looking for work, behind the extractive industries family (20.6%), we find the image and sound (20.10%), the plastic arts and design teaching (18.3%) and the graphic arts (1). However, it must be taken into account that in most of these degrees there is a high percentage of graduates who continue studying, either because they have completed an intermediate degree and are now completing the advanced degree or because they have chosen to continue training in another branch.
In this sense, the survey that collects the situation of students graduated in FP in the 2022-2023 academic year also shows how in a large majority of professional families there are more than 30% of graduates who continue studying without working. The most notable case is that of computer science and communications, where 48% of graduates continue to study after graduation, followed by physical and sports activities (47%), graphic arts (42%), and agriculture (40%).
They earn less.
The report presented this Monday also provides an overview of the income levels of graduates who are working. Of these, those who earn the most are those with a higher education degree: 45% earn between €1,200 and €1,500 gross per month, and 26% earn more than €1,500. However, there is a significant gender gap among graduates: while 33% of men with a higher education degree earn more than €1,500, only 18% of women with the same qualifications earn that amount from their work.