What Happens to Filipino Graduates After College? The Tracer Study Data (2026)
Of every 100 Filipino graduates surveyed, 86 were in the labour force and 76 were employed — but among graduates of courses requiring a professional licence, only 49% held jobs that matched their degree.
These figures come from the 4th Philippine Graduate Tracer Study, published by the Philippine Institute for Development Studies in its Research Paper Series. Before you use any of them, read the next section — the vintage matters more here than in almost any dataset you will cite.
Read the vintage before the findings
This study covers graduates from academic years 2008–2009, 2009–2010 and 2010–2011. The paper was published in 2021. You are reading it in 2026.
That means these are the outcomes of people who graduated roughly fifteen years ago, surveyed several years after graduation, and reported several years after that. The study remains the most substantial national graduate tracer evidence of its kind, which is exactly why it is still cited — but a literature review that presents these numbers as describing today’s graduates is making a claim the source does not support.
The correct framing in your own writing is explicit: “The 4th Philippine Graduate Tracer Study, covering graduates from academic years 2008–2009 to 2010–2011, found that…” Anyone who reads that sentence knows precisely what they are being told.
How the study was done — and why that matters to you
A total of 11,547 graduates were surveyed, representing 32.7% of the total sample, and the paper reports that 43.3% of sampled graduates were traced.
Those two numbers are worth pausing on, because they are a lesson in how to report your own study. The authors state their achieved response rate plainly rather than presenting only the headline count, and they describe the response rate as a challenge for this round. A national study run with institutional backing achieved a third of its target sample — which should permanently recalibrate what you consider a realistic response rate for an undergraduate survey distributed to one campus.
If you are designing a quantitative study, plan for non-response from the start rather than assuming everyone you approach will reply.
The employment findings
| Indicator | Figure |
|---|---|
| Graduates surveyed | 11,547 (32.7% of total sample) |
| Sampled graduates traced | 43.3% |
| In the labour force | 86 in 100 |
| Employed | 76 in 100 |
| Median months to first job, no licence required | 5 |
| Median months to first job, licence required | At least 11 |
| Consider their degree relevant to their first job | 70% |
| Employed in a job matching their degree (licence-requiring courses) | 49% |
| Think outdated skills are keeping them from a good job | Around one fourth |
The licence gap is the finding students most often miss. Graduates of courses that do not require a professional licence took a median of five months to find their first job; those in licence-requiring courses took at least eleven. That is not a measure of employability — it reflects the board examination and licensing cycle sitting between graduation and practice.
Job-education mismatch, stated carefully
The study reports several signals of mismatch, and they are more specific than the phrase usually suggests.
Graduates reported that they did not sufficiently develop communication, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Only 70% thought their college degree was relevant to their first job. Less than half considered the occupational skills learned in college the main reason they landed their first or current job. And around a fourth thought outdated skills were keeping them from a good job.
The sharpest figure is that only 49% of graduates from licence-requiring courses were employed in jobs matching their degree. The paper names the predominant non-matching occupations: contact centre representatives, various clerks in retail and sales, and other service workers and labourers.
Note what this does and does not say. It describes where graduates ended up. It does not, on its own, establish why — and a Chapter 2 that treats “mismatch” as a settled explanation rather than an observed pattern is overreaching.
What drove course choice
The study found graduates were motivated by earnings and career advancement when choosing their baccalaureate programs, and that their choices were concentrated in a few courses. It then reports something worth sitting with: except for nursing and information technology-related courses, those chosen programs were not the high-paying ones.
Students chose for earnings and did not, in aggregate, choose the courses that paid. That gap between intention and outcome is a genuinely strong opening for a Chapter 1 background on course choice, career guidance or labour market information.
Beyond employment
The study also looked at civic life and wellbeing. Only a third of graduates considered social and political aspects of life “very important”, with contributions to the public good largely confined to voting, obeying laws and paying taxes, and low participation in associations and political action.
Despite concern about earnings and low self-rated financial condition, overall life satisfaction was high. And the study found that a positive college experience, across its several dimensions, was generally associated with better employability, a stronger sense of citizenship and better life satisfaction.
That last finding is the one with the widest thesis application, because it links the quality of the college experience — not merely the credential — to outcomes after graduation.
If you are running a tracer study yourself
Tracer studies are among the most commonly assigned undergraduate thesis topics in the Philippines, usually tracing graduates of one program or one school. If that is your study, this national one is the best model you have, and three of its choices are worth copying.
It states its achieved sample against its target rather than reporting only who replied. It reports the tracing rate separately from the completion rate, because failing to locate someone and locating them but getting no response are different problems with different fixes. And it names its limitations rather than burying them.
Copy the third one especially. A tracer study that reaches 60 of 300 graduates and says so is a defensible piece of work with an honest limitations section. The same study presenting its 60 respondents as though they represent the cohort is not, and a panel will find that out with one question about how the respondents were reached. Your alumni contact list is almost certainly incomplete and skewed toward those who stayed in touch — say that, rather than hoping nobody asks.
How to cite these figures properly
- Always give the graduate cohort years. “Graduates of AY 2008–09 to 2010–11” belongs in the sentence, not a footnote.
- Distinguish the publication year from the data year. Published 2021, data much older.
- Quote proportions in the study’s own form. “86 in 100 in the labour force, of which 76 are employed” is the reported structure; converting it into a single employment percentage changes its meaning.
- Attribute the licence gap to the licensing cycle, not to employability, unless you have a source that makes the causal claim.
- Note the response rate when you rely on the findings. A study reporting 43.3% tracing is being transparent, and acknowledging it strengthens rather than weakens your use of it.
Frequently asked questions
What percentage of Filipino graduates are employed?
In the 4th Philippine Graduate Tracer Study, 86 in 100 graduates were in the labour force and 76 were employed. The data cover graduates of AY 2008–09 to 2010–11.
How long does it take a Filipino graduate to find a job?
A median of five months for graduates of courses not requiring a professional licence, and at least eleven months for those in licence-requiring courses.
What proportion of graduates work in jobs matching their degree?
Among graduates of licence-requiring courses, 49%. The study names contact centre, retail and sales, and service occupations as the predominant non-matching roles.
Do graduates think their degree was relevant?
70% considered their degree relevant to their first job, and fewer than half credited occupational skills learned in college as the main reason they were hired.
Is this data current?
No. It covers graduates from academic years 2008–2009 to 2010–2011 and was published in 2021. Cite it with those years stated.
How many graduates were surveyed?
11,547, representing 32.7% of the total sample, with 43.3% of sampled graduates traced.
Can I still cite an older study?
Yes, when it is the best available national evidence and you state its age. Presenting it as current is the error, not citing it.
Which courses paid well?
The study notes that except for nursing and information technology-related courses, the concentrated course choices were not the high-paying ones.
Does the study explain the mismatch?
It reports patterns and graduate perceptions. Treat causal explanations as your own argument requiring separate support.
Where do these figures belong in my thesis?
Usually the background in Chapter 1 or the related studies section of Chapter 2, with the cohort years stated in the sentence.
Old data, honestly used, beats new data invented
This dataset is fifteen years behind the students reading it, and it is still worth citing — because it is real, it is national, it reports its own limitations, and it can be opened and checked. The alternative circulating online is a confident percentage with no source at all.
Tesify keeps every source attached to the claim it supports while you draft, so the year and the caveat travel with the number instead of falling off in revision — 100% written by you, alongside 9,000+ students and 15,000+ chapters. Our companion guide covers the wider Philippine higher education figures.