The number of Irish graduates finding work abroad has risen, according to new data from the Higher Education Authority.
An analysis of last year's college leavers has found that 12% of Honours degree holders were working abroad, compared to 10% the previous year.
The HEA figures show that nine months after leaving college just over half of all those who graduated with Honours degrees in 2013 had found employment.
The figures show that 39% of graduates found employment in Ireland, which is lower than the previous year, and 12% found employment abroad, which is higher than before.
Female Honours degree graduates were more likely to have found job, compared to their male counterparts, but their salaries were lower.
Overall, those salaries appear slightly higher than the starting salaries of a year earlier.
Those with degrees in computer science were most likely to be working nine months on.
The data shows that 77% of computer science graduates were working, while 76% of education graduates were working.
However, the proportion of Honours education degree graduates finding work in Ireland fell by almost a fifth this year to 68%, while 16%, were working overseas.
The Chief Executive of the Higher Education Authority said the figures show it is absolutely essential that Ireland focuses on economic recovery.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Tom Boland said nobody should be forced to emigrate to get employment.
However, he said he did not believe the situation was at all as negative as the phrase "brain drain" implied.
He said not everybody was emigrating because they had to.
Mr Boland said it was also quite clear that the higher education system was graduating graduates who were in high demand internationally.
"It's absolutely essential that we focus as a country on economic recovery, because there is no question about it, nobody should be forced to emigrate to get employment," he said.
"There's still some element of that, even though economic recovery is taking hold.
"There are positives here as well. One positive is it is quite clear that our higher education system is still graduating graduates of very high quality, which are highly in demand internationally."
