PARIS, Sept. 13 (Xinhua) -- In member countries of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), graduates from science-related fields are the most employable, according to OECD's new report on education.
The "Education at a Glance 2017" published on Tuesday is the authoritative source for information on the state of education around the world which covers all 35 OECD countries and a number of partner countries as Argentina, Brazil, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, India, Indonesia, Lithuania, Russia, Saudi Arabia and South Africa.
This 2017 edition of the report also shows significant increase of tertiary education rate among the population aged between 25 and 64, which was 22 percent in 2000 but 36 percent in 2016.
The increase is even higher among younger adults aged between 25 and 34, who have benefited from the expansion of higher education in recent decades in many countries, says the report.
With a first in-depth analysis of the subjects students take at vocational and tertiary level, OECD found that business, administration and law are the most popular careers in countries surveyed, chosen by around one in four students, compared with 17 percent in engineering, construction and manufacturing, 5 percent in natural sciences, statistics and mathematics and about 4 percent in information and communication technologies.
However, graduates from science, technology, engineering and mathematics-related fields enjoy higher employment rates, reflecting the demands of an increasingly innovation-driven society, finds the report.
Statistics shows that information and communication technologies (ICT) graduates can expect an employment rate 7 percentage points higher than their peers from from arts and humanities, or social sciences, journalism and information.
However, employment rates within science-related fields are unequal. Natural sciences, mathematics and statistics graduates are more likely to have similar employment rates as arts and humanities graduates, both lower than the rates enjoyed by engineers or ICT specialists, the report reveals.
It also points out that adults with a tertiary degree benefit from substantial returns on their investment: they are 10 percentage points more likely to be employed, and will earn 56 percent more on average than adults who only completed upper secondary education. Besides, they are also less likely to suffer from depression than their less-educated peers.
"Tertiary education promises huge rewards for individuals, but education systems need to do a better job of explaining to young people what studies offer the greatest opportunities for life," said OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurria.
"Equitable and high quality education fuels personal fulfilment as well as economic growth. Countries must step up their efforts to ensure that education meets the needs of today's children and informs their aspirations for the future," he said.
