59% of Licence holders have a wage job 12 months after graduating

The Information Keynote from the French Ministry of higher education and research results from the work by InserSup, a new information system obtained by comparing students’ administration files and employment data to assess and qualify the professional insertion of students leaving the higher education system after a passing a Licence degree (equivalent to a Bachelor). As the Keynote explains, “for now, a General Licence degree isn’t designed for professional insertion, due to its largely theoretical contents”. After the degree, “the natural continuation for students” is to continue their studies, says the ministry: 83.3% of graduates from the 2022 class walked this path. However, for two years this share has been tending to decrease: 84.0% of graduates in 2020 and 83.7% for those in 2021.

The insertion way is similar one class to another

For the 2022 class, 17.7% of graduates in General Licence thus “got out of higher education with a General Licence”. So, 12 months after graduating, 59% “have a wage job in France” (down 0.8 point compared with 2021), and 18 months after graduating this share settled at 53.3%, down 0.1 point compared with the previous class.

According to the ministry, this “insertion way” during the 30 months following graduation “varies between 55% and 60%”. It seems almost identical to the previous class, but is much faster than the 2020 class, which was more gradual “because it was heavily impacted by the health crisis”.

Light variations according to the type of training

In detail, depending on the nature of training courses and their main discipline, employment statistics show more variations. Thus, in 2022:

• graduates in Sciences-Technology-Health (STS in French) register the highest rate of salaried employment in France after 18 months (58.9%).
• graduates in Humanities and Social Science (SHS in French) register an almost similar rate (58%);
• graduates in Law-Economics-Management (DEG in French), at 54.2%, register a significant drawback compared with the previous year (-1.9 point);
• graduates in Literature-Languages-Arts (LLA in French) registered a slightly growing rate of salaried employment in France after 18 months (+0.5 point) while staying the lowest rate, at 49.4%.

Slightly easier insertion for women

Regarding graduates’ genders, the French ministry notes that insertion in a wage job in France for graduates in General Licence from 2022 is “more favourable to women than men”, whether it’s 6, 12 or 18 months after graduating.

In fact, the difference is in their favour by 4.2 points at 6 months, 1.7 point at 12 months and 1.3 point at 18 months.

After 18 months, says the Keynote, the difference in favour of women is highly significant for graduates in Humanities and Social Science and in Law-Economics-Management, even though it is less the case in Literature-Languages-Arts and Sciences-Technologies-Health.

Women are also more inserted in a stable job 18 months after graduating. Indeed, men who graduated in General Licence are by 45.5% under permanent contract, versus 47.8% for women.

A quarter of graduates in public service

The Keynote also reveals that graduates in General Licence “seem to tend much more than others graduates to work under fixed-term contracts (37.4%)”.

That’s why General Licence graduates “tend to become public servants (5.5%)”, since Licence degree is a degree “opening the way to public servant exams”. In total, when including permanent and fixed-term contracts, a quarter of graduates with General Licence have an employer in public service. More precisely, graduates in LLA are those who enter the professional market most frequently with a permanent contract, SHS graduates enter mostly with a fixed-term contract, and DEG graduates enter the less... But these “look the most frequently for a job in the public service”, says the Keynote.