Labour market perspectives for PhD graduates in Europe

Abstract

An increase in the number of PhD candidates in the last decades has changed the landscape of employment and the nature of what it means to be a PhD holder. Embarking on a career in academia is a challenging endeavour for early‐career researchers while they are confronted with a limited number of job opportunities in academia. Taking into account that knowledge based societies need highly skilled professionals beyond the academic environment, it is important to understand what is the role and value of a PhD for the labour market; and what the current labour market perspectives are for PhD holders. To answer these questions, the authors analysed the available data on PhD holders' employment and conducted semi‐structured interviews with European experts on doctoral education and career development. The data and expert interviews point to different contexts across European countries. The numbers of researchers and PhDs employed in sectors outside higher education varies to a great extent—in business enterprises, government, and private non‐profit sectors. The article maps out different factors which need to be considered when assessing the labour market perspectives of PhD holders, such as the geographic area or country and its economic development, the sector of employment, type of work and the field of research.

Skills of PhD Graduates for Open Science and Open Innovation

“…A stronger and earlier focus on it could help young researchers to open their minds to a broader range of career pathways than the anticipated academic one. These skill sets, especially if combined, have the potential to improve the valuable utilisation of research skills of PhD graduates in various career paths, which they increasingly need to consider (Boman et al, 2021, Hnátková et al, 2022.…”

“…The study is based on broadly understood ideas of Open Science (OS) and Open Innovation (OI), in which interdisciplinarity, teamwork and cooperation across institutions and between academia and other sectors are vital elements. It is a contribution to ongoing attempts to diversify doctoral education regarding the aims of the study, organisational forms and career outlooks of the graduates (Kosová et al, 2019, 26-40;Hnátková et al, 2022).…”

Occupational choice, satisfaction and success of PhD graduates in East Asia and the West: A systematic review

“…Since then, a positive relationship between intensity of R&D investment and the proportion of doctorates employed in NAPs has been consistently observed in Europe and the US (Beltramo et al., 2001). Globally, the US took the lead in providing NAPs for doctorates, while advanced economics in Europe, such as Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, also performed well in absorbing doctorates beyond academia (Hnatkova et al., 2022). These geographic disparities in NAP provision could result in frequent occupational mobility among doctorates, who tended to migrate towards locales with more R&D investments and greater employment availability (Passaretta et al., 2019).…”

Unsettling academia: Academic career choices and pathways of PhD graduates in the Greater Bay Area in China

“…Additionally, more temporary jobs are created in academia, complicating the academic career trajectories of PhD graduates. Furthermore, the widespread coronavirus‐triggered side effects across the academic labour market have been a hindrance to PhD graduates' academic career choices and pathways over the last 3 years (2020–2023) (Atkinson et al, 2022; Hnatkova et al, 2022). Slowdowns or halts in academic hiring have become the ‘new normal’ in many nations, particularly those that rely primarily on tuition fees (like the United States and the United Kingdom), which puts a strain on academic career pathways, particularly for recent PhD graduates and junior academics (Xu, 2022).…”