Report 2009:28 R
Establishment on the labour market — graduates 2005/06
Since 2003, Högskoleverket (Swedish National Agency for Higher Education) has analysed how people with degrees from first-cycle courses and study programmes have established themselves on the labour market shortly after graduation. Previously, information about how students from higher education became established on the labour market was taken from the various registers at Statistiska centralbyrån (SCB — Statistics Sweden). Groups with different positions on the labour market are created by using information about income, unemployment, studies, etc. Graduates who continue to study, or who move abroad, are not included in the survey.
This report has followed people who graduated from higher education in the academic year of 2005/06 as regards their position on the labour market in 2007. Most of those with a higher education qualification, eight of ten, had rapidly become established on the labour market.
Graduates specializing in technology, nursing and health care or IT/computing and systems science found it easiest to establish themselves on the labour market. The lowest place in the statistics went to those with Master's degrees in an artistic field, with 28 percent becoming established. The highest proportion of people who had established themselves on the labour market was those with a Master of Science in Medicine, 96 percent.
In-demand qualifications
One-sixth of all graduates belonged to qualification groups in which 90 percent had become established on the labour market. What they had in common was that they provided much needed skills on the labour market, as there was a great need for people with these qualifications in 2007. This applied to those with a Masters of Science in Medicine or Dental Surgery, Masters of Science in Engineering specializing in construction, computing or mechanics, as well as for those with a Bachelor of Science in Engineering specializing in construction. Three different qualifications in continuing professional development also belonged to the groups that were at least 90 percent established on the labour market: specialist nursing, psychotherapy and special needs education.
Two-thirds of all graduates belonged to a qualification group that had 70 to 89 percent establishment on the labour market. The various professional qualifications dominate this interval, but several groups with general degrees had an equally high number of established people, including people with economics or informatics/computing and systems science as their main field of study.
Groups that had greater difficulty
Degree groups that were less than 70 percent established were unusual. They comprised just one sixth of all graduates. People who found it difficult to establish themselves were primarily graduates from some humanist, theological or artistic subjects. A degree in a natural science also entailed some difficulties in becoming established.
Most common jobs require higher education
Nine of ten people who were established on the labour market had a profession that requires higher education. Barely 10 percent had professions with lower qualification requirements than higher education. The professional focus was often highly comparable to the focus of the programme, particularly for people with professional qualifications. This indicates that most graduates from higher education have qualifications that are in demand on the labour market. However, degree groups with relatively low numbers established on the labour market often have a high proportion of people in professions that do not require higher education.
Small differences between the sexes
The proportion of those who had become established was somewhat higher among men than among women, 81 to 77 percent. However, women and men establish themselves equally quickly after graduating. For a majority of higher education graduates, there were only a few percentage point differences and, over the years, whether women or men are the fastest to establish themselves on the labour market has varied.
However, five degree groups have had a higher proportion of established men than women for three years in a row (2005-2007): Bachelor of Science in Engineering specializing in construction or mechanics, Bachelor degrees with technological main subjects, nursing degrees and Bachelors with main subjects in other social sciences (apart from economics, behavioural science, informatics/computing and systems science). There was only one degree group, the folk high school teaching qualification, where a higher proportion of women than men were established for three consecutive years.
Greatest rise in technology and IT
Compared to follow-ups from previous years, the proportion of those who were established had risen by 5 percent, from 73 to 78 percent. There was an increase in all large areas between 2006 and 2007. The technology and IT sectors belong to the areas with the greatest rise.
There is a variation in the proportion of establishment between higher education institutions, much of which depends on the range of programmes and courses available, but which, to a lesser extent, depends on how great the institution's educational volume is compared to the size of the local labour market. If students must move away from the study venue, establishment takes a longer time on average. For some degree groups, such as a Master of Science in Engineering, there are no differences in establishment between higher education institutions, while for others, such as the Bachelor of Arts in Education, there are significant differences between higher education institutions.
Contact: Örjan Hemström, Email: firstname.lastname@hsv.se
Print
Phone: 08-563 085 00 Fax: 08-563 085 50 Email: hsv@hsv.se
