The advantages of entering the job market with a higher education degree are well-known and are once again confirmed in the 2025 edition of Education at a Glance, the annual report from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) that provides statistics on the education systems of its 38 member states.

According to the most recent data from 2023, 83% of adults aged 25 to 64 with at least a bachelor's degree earned above-average salaries.

The reality of highly qualified workers in Portugal contrasts with the salary conditions of those with less education: among adults who only completed high school, 53% earned below the average wage, a percentage even higher among workers who did not complete 12th grade (66%).

On the other hand, less than 10% of those who did not complete higher education earn more than double the average wage. The percentage is significantly higher among graduates, reaching 36%.

In addition to the salary advantage, Education at a Glance 2025 also highlights the relationship between the employment rate and qualifications, and in this regard, too, the benefits of higher education are clear.

Using data from 2024, the OECD report reveals that nine out of 10 graduates were employed that year (91%).

The employment rate among adults with 12th grade education is slightly lower (86%) and even lower among those who did not complete high school.

Finding a job

Even so, regarding the ease of finding a job, the differences between having and not having a higher education degree are not as pronounced in Portugal as they are in the OECD average.

In Portugal, only five percentage points separate the employment rate between those with the two academic degrees, a difference that reaches nine percentage points in the OECD average.

On the other hand, it is primarily women who benefit from higher education in the labor market, and the data show that gender differences in the ease of finding a job diminish as the level of qualifications increases.

According to the data, in 2024, 66% of women between the ages of 25 and 64 without a high school diploma were employed. Among men with the same level of education, the rate was 79%.

With a high school diploma, the employment rate was 82% among women and 88% among men, and for those with higher education, there is no difference: 89% in both cases.

These gains are also maintained as students continue their higher education studies, with job placement for those with master's degrees and, especially, doctorates, becoming easier than for those with only undergraduate degrees.

In recent years, more young people have been entering higher education, and between 2019 and 2024, the percentage of young people aged 25 to 35 with higher education rose from 38% to 43%.

Portugal remains one of the countries with the highest percentage of the adult population who did not even complete the 12th grade (38%).

Undergraduate degrees remain the main gateway to higher education, and new students are mostly women, representing just over half.

Gender-wise, women also have an easier time completing their degree within three years of the expected time.

Regarding school dropout rates, Portugal appears to be performing better than the OECD average, with an 8% dropout rate after the first year of the course, compared to the 13% average for member states.