Employment of Vocational Education Training Completers

The indicator assesses the extent to which vocational education training (VET) program graduates are able to gain and retain a job in the profession they were trained in (being either employed or self-employed). It is an essential sign of the VET program’s effectiveness.

Determine the indicator's value by using the following methodology:

1) Obtain data on VET program completers’ employment status. Some VET institutions collect career path data of their graduates, which you might use. If such data is not available, you will have to conduct a tracer study (i.e. survey tracking down a group of graduated trainees and their employment activities). For guidance on conducting a tracer study use Helvetas’ practical toolkit (see below) and contact your organization's advisor. 

2) To calculate the indicator's value, divide the number of VET program completers working in a relevant occupation in the given time period by the total number of VET programme completers. Multiply the result by 100 to convert it to a percentage.  

Disaggregate the data by gender, trade and specific vulnerable groups, such as minorities or people with disability.

1) If possible, measure the indicator at least two points in time: within a month after completion of the training and then again after six months of the training’s completion. A minimum 6-month period is recommended as within this period graduates can easily draw conclusions about the usefulness of the skills acquired in the training for their work and give information about their (self-)employment while still remembering the details of the training session. You can extend the period if you are implementing a long-term program that allows for later data collection. On the contrary, when VET is implemented as a part of the emergency response, then immediate (self-)employment is desirable and should be measured within 3 months.

2) During both measurements (immediately and 6 months after), always get the data from the same people. A comparison of the 2 figures will give you a good idea about the increasing or decreasing trend and the sustainability of the intervention’s outcome.