2003:7 R

Entrance to the labour market

The information, which covers the labour market entrance of graduates during the period 1994/95 to 1998/99, reveals major differences, however, between groups with varying qualifications. Among the groups that were quickest to enter the labour market during this period, over 80 per cent had established themselves within one year of graduation. In addition to graduates in engineering, medicine and pharmacy, this group also comprised primary school teachers with qualifications to teach mathematics and science together with qualified dispensing opticians and dispensing pharmacists.

The process takes considerably longer for those with a degree in the fine arts. In this category, the proportion of those who had found a place in the labour market was between 20 and 30 per cent during the year following graduation. Other groups for whom slow establishment indicates problems in labour market entrance are those with bachelor´s or master´s degrees that include history, philosophy and theology or with bachelor´s degrees in which languages are a major subject. In these groups the proportion established in the labour market lay between 40 and 50 per cent during the year after graduation.

A number of groups have been influenced by the general improvements in the labour market that occurred during the latter half of the 90s. This improvement is particularly noticeable for women. Of the women who took degrees in 1994/95, 55 per cent were established during the year following graduation, in other words 1996, compared to almost 70 per cent of the men. For those taking degrees in 1998/99 the corresponding figures were 75 per cent for women and 80 per cent for men. This means that gender differences were smaller in 2000 than in 1996, when they were considerable.

The report also contains data indicating the link between labour market entrance and the general educational level of the population as a whole. The link is unambiguous - the more education, the more security in the labour market. This applies irrespective of whether the comparison concerns degree of establishment or the proportion of those unemployed or involved in labour market policy measures.

One particular aspect of this report is that it is based exclusively on information in statistical registers - i.e. data collected and registered continually for purposes other than to shed light on the labour market entrance of graduates from higher education. This means that the data is inexpensive and is available for the entire population - not merely a sample. It will therefore be possible to present comparable data continuously - and to extend data presentation to cover smaller groups, for instance those from specific higher education institutions or other categories.

The data are taken from Statistics Sweden´s Louise database, which is updated annually with new figures from the registers on educational level, population, income and employment. This database also contains data from the Labour Market Board´s register of those seeking work - with information about unemployment and participation in labour market policy measures.

On the basis of these data, a composite variable has been constructed to measure the position of individuals in the labour market. To be listed as established in the labour market, an individual is required to be employed in November of the current year and the preceding year and not to have been unemployed or involved in labour market policy measures during the current year. An additional requirement is an annual income exceeding SEK 130,000 (for 1996 and the corresponding amount for subsequent years after general wage developments have been taken into account).