Portugal graduate jobs study shows degree field matters

That matters economically because it points to a structural mismatch between higher education and labor demand. The study says graduates in Arts, Psychology, Natural Sciences, Mathematics and Statistics, Humanities and Languages face unemployment probabilities at least 10 percentage points higher than peers from Engineering, Manufacturing and Construction, and those gaps remain visible even five years after graduation, though they narrow over time.

The quality of the first job also varies sharply by field. Information and communication technologies and Engineering deliver the highest hourly pay and satisfaction, while ICT also stands out for stronger contract stability. By contrast, Arts, Humanities, Well-being and Services fare worse across several measures.

Underemployment is especially acute. The report says overqualification is most common in Humanities, where it affects 50.6% of graduates, followed by Services at 50% and Arts at 46.3%, compared with just 6.2% in Medicine and Dentistry. Master’s graduates and short-cycle graduates are also more likely to be overqualified than bachelor’s holders, underscoring Portugal’s difficulty in placing more educated workers into jobs that match their skills.

The findings carry a warning for policymakers: more graduates do not automatically mean better outcomes if the degree mix is misaligned with demand. The researchers argue for better information on wages, contract stability, satisfaction and job matching so students and families can make more informed choices, rather than using employability alone to decide how places are allocated across courses.

Gender differences add another layer of concern. Women face lower contract stability, lower pay, lower job satisfaction and a higher risk of overqualification, with weaker alignment between field of study and employment one year after graduation. The study’s cumulative disadvantage index shows outcomes have worsened for the latest cohort, with the share reporting no disadvantages falling to 7.8% from 14.1%, while those facing all five adverse conditions rose to 2.8% from 1%.

For investors, the message is less about one labor-market report than about the broader supply of skilled labor in Europe’s smaller economies. Persistent mismatches can weigh on productivity, wage growth and household spending, while benefiting sectors that absorb graduates with technical skills and punishing fields with weaker labor-market returns.

The study lands as employers across many markets remain selective about hiring and as graduates increasingly question whether a degree guarantees stable, well-paid work. The next policy debate in Portugal is likely to center on how universities, employers and the state can better align course offerings with the jobs the economy actually creates.