Ireland's workforce most educated in EU with large portion over-qualified

Just under 60% of Irish workers have a third-level degree, with more than 28% overqualified in their current job

Overall, Ireland had the fourth-highest over-qualification rate in the EU, coming behind Spain at 36%, and Greece and Cyprus, both at 32%.

Ireland has one of the highest rates of over-qualification in the EU, with 28.6% of Irish people working in occupations that do not require a third-level degree despite having one.

That is according to newly released Eurostat data finding that Ireland had the highest proportion of employed people with tertiary education, making the country's workforce the most educated in the EU.

Overall, 59% of Irish workers had either a short-cycle tertiary education, a bachelor's, a master's or doctoral degree.

This has led to significant overqualification rates among Irish workers, with the figure rising even higher for employed women.

The statistics agency found that 30% of Irish women were overqualified in their current job compared to 27.7% of Irish men, with Ireland one of 19 EU countries to have higher over-qualification rates among females.

Overall, Ireland had the fourth-highest over-qualification rate in the EU, coming behind Spain at 36%, and Greece and Cyprus, both at 32%.

The figures come as part of EU-wide employment statistics released by the agency, revealing that employment across the 27-nation union peaked at 75% in 2022, with Ireland coming in at the higher end at 78.2%.

Achieving record-high levels in 2022, Eurostat data also revealed that Ireland had one of the highest year-on-year employment increases between 2021 and 2022, rising by 3.3%.

Despite having the most educated workforce at 59%, Ireland's gender employment gap was one of the largest in the EU and one of just nine to exceed the 27-country-wide average.