2006:40 R

Establishment in the labour market - graduates in 2002/03

The lower rate of establishment for those graduating from higher education in 2004 compared with 2003 reflects the development of the labour market in general. One reason why the establishment process for graduates has not been affected more - despite a less buoyant labour market - may be that many of those qualifying from higher education have set their sights on the public sector labour market, where the development of demand during the period has not been the same as in other economic sectors.

These results show a continuation of the decline in the past few years of the rate of establishment for those with basic and advanced degrees in engineering - in particular for those with degrees specialising in information and communication technology (IT). The statistics for 2004 are also the first for many years that indicate a reduction in the establishment rate of the growing groups with teaching and nursing qualifications.

Physicians and nurses are among the groups that most rapidly establish themselves in the labour market. In these groups the degree of establishment 12-18 months after graduation was around 90 per cent for those qualifying in the academic year 2002/03. The proportions of most groups with higher education qualifications establishing themselves in the Swedish labour market 12-18 months after graduation lie within the interval of 70-90 per cent. This applies to large categories such as physicians and engineers, even though the rate for those with master´s degrees in engineering has declined when compared with the late 1990s.
One group where negative deviation can be seen consists of those with qualifications in the fine arts. Of this group only 32 per cent had gained a footing in the labour market 12-18 months after graduation. Even those with general degrees in the humanities, i.e. bachelor´s and master´s degrees, have a relatively low rate of establishment - between 40-50 per cent.

A new feature in this year´s report is the presentation of the number of self-employed among those graduating. Of those qualifying in 2002/03 just under 2 per cent were self-employed 12-18 months after graduation. However there are relatively major differences in the proportions of self-employed among those with different qualifications. The largest proportion of self-employed can be found among graduates in the fine arts. These are followed by hippologists, psychotherapists and architects. In these four groups between 10-23 per cent are self employed. For several other qualification categories, however, the proportion of self-employed is in the interval of 1-5 per cent. And there are no self-employed graduates at all in many areas in health care as well as education, in other words where qualifications are largely related to employment with major employers such as the local education and public health authorities.

Those who gain a footing in the Swedish labour market, irrespective of whether they become wage-earners or are self-employed, can generally be found in the vocational areas to be expected in view of their qualifications. But the range of career choices is wider in the groups that have greatest difficulty in establishing themselves in the labour market. Moreover, the range of occupations is wider among those with general degrees, i.e. bachelor´s and master´s degrees, than among those with vocational qualifications.
The data on which this study of establishment is based have been taken from a register maintained by Statistics Sweden. The information in this register comprises for instance, income statistics from the Taxation Authorities and information on unemployment and the provision of labour market measures from the Labour Market Board. The establishment variables have been created through further refinement of these data by the Forecasting Institute at Statistics Sweden. The information in the register has been supplemented by occupational statistics from Statistics Sweden´s occupational register.

The report also contains information on the rate of establishment for various qualification categories broken down according to the higher education institution at which they graduated. This presentation reveals, for instance, that for large groups with master´s degrees in engineering there are virtually no differences between the various institutions, whereas in many other groups there are obvious differences. When small groups are involved these results may in many cases depend on pure chance. In addition, the local labour market plays an important role for the establishment process. If students are obliged to move away from the area in which they studied, establishment may take longer in many cases.