Archive:Careers of doctorate holders
- Data based on the pilot CDH data collection 2006, most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
Doctorate holders and other research qualification holders are crucial to the creation, commercialisation and dissemination of knowledge and innovation. They are not only the most qualified, but also those who are specifically trained to conduct research. However, up to now, not much is known about their career and mobility patterns on the labour market.
The statistics on Careers of Doctorate Holders (CDH) measure demographic, employment and career characteristics of these persons, as well as their international mobility and driving forces behind this mobility. These characteristics are measured both at national and international level. The international ‘Survey on Careers of Doctorate Holders’ is a joint project carried out by the Organisation for Economic Development and Co-operation (OECD), the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and Eurostat.
Main statistical findings
Personal characteristics of research qualification holders (from the pilot CDH data collection 2006)
The number of men holding research qualifications tends to be higher than the number of women. In most countries the percentage of men exceeds 60% of the research qualification holders. Italy is the country with the highest share of women in this group, and is actually the only country where more women than men hold research qualifications. Generally, analysis has shown that there is a higher share of women holding research qualifications in the younger age classes. This is confirmed in the most recent updates of the data.
The age distribution varies a lot between countries. For several countries, the ’35 44’ age group is the largest; for others, the age groups ’35 44’ and ’45 54’ are equally dominant. Overall, the older population (over 55 years old) accounts for only a small percentage in most of the countries.
Employment characteristics and work perception of research qualification holders (from the pilot CDH data collection 2006)
Most identified doctorate holders were employed at the time of the survey. The share of unemployed and inactive doctorate holders is lower than 2% in most countries. Exceptions to the unemployment rate are reported by Italy (2.7%), Germany (2.5%) and Austria (2.3%). Significant percentages of inactive doctorates are noted in Austria (4.7%) and the Netherlands (4.3%).
A large share of the doctorate and research qualification holders is employed as teaching professionals. This is intuitive, as it is a quite common career to become either a researcher with teaching responsibilities or a lecturer in higher education (universities, etc.). In addition, many research qualification holders are employed in the field of physical, mathematical and engineering science. Generally, only a smaller part has become policy makers, senior officials and managers.
It is also interesting to see the distribution of doctorate holders in researchers and non-researchers. More than half of the doctorate holders are employed as researchers in all countries, except for the Netherlands. In several countries the percentage of doctorate holders employed as researchers is as high as 70% or more.
With regard to the sector of employment, the largest share of researchers works in the higher education sector. In almost all countries the respective percentage exceeds 60% and in particular in Lithuania it reaches 73.5%. The government sector appears to be the second choice for researchers followed by the business enterprise sector. In the private non-profit sector the percentage of employed researchers is on average below 10% for all countries, with the exception of Estonia (23.9%).
The data indicate that research qualification holders are liable to stay with their employer for a longer time period; the majority of research qualification holders stay with their employer for 10 years or more, followed by those who are with the same employer for at least 5 years. The only exception is Denmark where a considerable share of employed research qualification holders has been with their current employer for one to two years.
In almost all countries, research qualification holders mainly report to be ‘somewhat satisfied’ with their salary. This group is followed by those who are ‘somewhat dissatisfied’. The share of research qualification holders who states to be ‘very dissatisfied’ with their salary is rather low in the majority of countries, with the exception of Bulgaria (19.4%).
However, by combining the two categories of dissatisfaction (‘somewhat dissatisfied’ and ‘very dissatisfied’), the salary appears to be one of the main reasons for which most research qualification holders are not satisfied with their work along with the benefits and the opportunities for advancement.
Inward international mobility of research qualification holders (from the pilot CDH data collection 2006)
The share of research qualification holders, citizens of the reporting country, who have lived or stayed abroad in the past ten years varies from 4.7% to 30.5% among the European countries. The main reasons for moving again into their country of residence are family or personal reasons, the completion of their doctorate and other job related or economic factors.
Data sources and availability
The Careers of Doctorate Holders survey for the reference year 2006 (CDH 2006) was the first international, coordinated round of this data collection, and thus had a certain element of ‘pilot exercise’. All in all, 26 countries participated in the initial CDH 2006 survey, i.e. most of the Member States of the European Union, of EFTA and some of the most important other members of the OECD, such as the United States and Australia. Reference year for the CDH was 2006, although there were a few exceptions (three countries used 2005 and two countries 2007 as reference year).
Most of the countries carried out a dedicated survey on CDH while some others have used data from the national LFS or other register data. The outcome of this exercise reveals that collection methods, other than dedicated surveys, have a negative impact on the availability of the requested information. In fact, countries which use either the LFS survey or administrative data or population census to derive CDH figures tend to supply limited data in the output tables. On the contrary, data derived from dedicated surveys is very much complete in respect to the requirements set by the three international organisations.
With regard to the data sources used for the CDH, countries used multiple sources to build their sampling frame. Where more than one source was used, care has been taken to avoid overlap. These data sources cover special characteristics of the target population. For example, sources such as R&D survey and surveys or registers concerning employment/ business/ enterprises cover employed doctorate holders awarded either in the reporting country or abroad; sources such as databases of universities and national registers of doctorate holders cover doctorate holders awarded in the reporting country. Moreover combination of sources complements the survey frames with recent doctorate holders that have not been registered yet in one of the official registers.
The quality of the data sources and consequently the efficacy of the survey frame are vital for the complete coverage of the target population. According to the guidelines, the target population should include all doctorate holders (citizens of the reporting country or citizens of foreign countries) awarded within the country and abroad and being resident (permanent or non-permanent) in the country on the reference date. Departures from these recommendations are mainly due to insufficient sources of data, which fail to cover (fully or partly) all the sub-groups of doctorate holders resident in the country. The sub-categories that were mostly under-covered were: ISCED6 graduates having their doctorates awarded abroad, unemployed and inactive graduates, non-permanent residents and foreign citizens.
The problems and limitations of the quality of CDH 2006 data have been discussed with the involved countries and organisations. Following analysis and discussions of the CDH 2006, countries were asked to update and complement some key characteristics, in order to improve completeness and comparability between countries. To present comparable data as far as possible, the three coordinating organisations OECD, UNESCO UIS and Eurostat are currently working on the analysis and preparation of data. Discussions are also ongoing with the countries on how to overcome coverage and comparability problems. As the national methods for collecting the data may vary between countries, reflecting the diversity of the national statistical systems, harmonisation is carried out on the output of the CDH statistics, together with a control of quality. The aim is to obtain high quality results through a harmonised list of variables and indicators, together with their related definitions. Different countries are at different stages of development of the CDH statistics, in particular in reaching the final aim of full coverage of the target population. In a transition phase where countries make efforts to fully implement the methodological guidelines, incomplete coverage will have to be accepted to support their effort. However, this is at the expense of comparability of the data between countries. A priority is to limit incomplete coverage as the project develops and national practices are harmonised.
In parallel with the work on analysis, quality control and publication of results from CDH 2006, preparations for the next round of the CDH survey is currently carried out by OECD, UIS and Eurostat. This next round of the CDH survey will have 2009 as reference year. Based on the experiences from the CDH 2006 survey, intensive work has been carried out to improve the model questionnaire, the questionnaire manual and the methodological guidelines. These guidelines provide guidance on the target population , sampling frames , sampling design , etc., that should be respected in the national surveys in order to provide harmonised and comparable statistics.
A common, harmonised definition of the target population is critical for the usefulness of the CDH data delivered by the participating countries. The countries often use different national sources and surveys for putting together both the sampling frame (i.e. the overview of Research Qualification Holders from which a sample for the survey is drawn) and the statistics itself.
The total target population of the CDH statistics consists of all persons with an education at ISCED 6 level (i.e. research qualification holders, mainly doctorate holders). This is divided into national populations, which are considered the target populations of national surveys in each country. Many highly skilled people tend to work and contribute to society with their skills and knowledge at high ages. However, one of the main aims of the CDH statistics, i.e. the measuring of mobility and career path, is targeting relatively young research qualification holders.
In summary, the national target populations for the CDH survey consist of persons who, in the reference year, fulfil the following criteria:
- Have an education at ISCED 6 level, obtained anywhere in the world;
- Live (permanently or non-permanently) in the survey country, and;
- Are not older than 69 years in the reference year.
With these definitions and the assumption that all countries conduct the survey according to the common methodological guidelines and with the same year, the whole population of doctorate holders and other research qualification holders living in those countries is covered, without any overlaps. The resulting statistics should thus be complete and fully comparable between all participating countries.
Context
Human resources are fundamental to the creation, commercialisation and dissemination of innovation. Among them, doctorate holders and other research qualification holders are not only the most qualified in terms of educational accomplishment, but also those who are specifically trained to conduct research.
Not much is known, however, about their career and mobility patterns on the labour market. This is why the OECD, the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (UIS) and Eurostat launched a collaborative project in 2004, aimed at developing internationally comparable indicators on the careers and mobility of research qualification holders. An expert group with representatives from national statistical bodies was formed to develop the technical components of the project and start compiling data at national level.
Innovation, as a motor for economic progress, is a key element of the European Union’s ‘Lisbon strategy’. The Lisbon Strategy is an action and development plan, broadly aiming to make the EU the most competitive and the most dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world by 2010. The main fields are economic, social, and environmental renewal and sustainability. In particular, the European Commission has stated that making growth and jobs the immediate target goes hand in hand with promoting social or environmental objectives.
The European Research Area (ERA) has become a central pillar of the Lisbon Strategy, together with the completion of the Single Market, the European 'broad-based innovation strategy' and the creation of a European Higher Education Area. In fact, the ERA can be likened to a research and innovation equivalent of the Single Market for goods and services. ERA’s purpose is to increase the competitiveness of European research institutions by bringing them together and encouraging a more inclusive way of work. Increased mobility of knowledge workers and deeper co-operation among research institutions in the EU are central goals of the ERA.
Within the ERA, researchers should be able to move and interact seamlessly, benefit from world-class infrastructures and work with excellent networks of research institutions. ERA should inspire the best talents to enter research careers in Europe and stimulate industry to invest more in European research. It should enable European researchers to develop strong links with partners around the world, so that Europe benefits from the worldwide progress of knowledge, contributes to global development and takes a leading role in international initiatives to solve global issues. The European Commission prepares implementation reports to the European Council on the “Mobility of Researchers and Career Development”.
Thus, in recent years the user needs for measuring the career development and mobility of the highest skilled part of the labour force have increased, both within the EU and internationally. The “Availability and Characteristics of Surveys on the Destination of Doctorate Recipients in OECD Countries” inventory in 2003 showed that many national surveys existed and provided valuable information for the understanding of career patterns and mobility of doctorate holders and other research qualification holders. However, such surveys had been developed to serve national statistical needs and were not harmonised internationally.
The OECD Secretariat, together with the UIS and Eurostat, has arranged a series of workshops on Careers and Mobility of Doctorate Holders since 2003. These workshops have brought together statisticians, academics and policy makers interested in the monitoring of employment, career outcomes and mobility of scientists and engineers holding an advanced research degree. The user community has consistently repeated its interest for the project, as well as underlined the need to repeat the CDH data collections on a regular basis. This way, one is able to follow trends and to make comparisons and benchmarks over time. In the workshops, links were defined between research questions and data needs. This way, the objectives for the data collection of statistics on CDH could be set. The policy questions observed at the national and international level are summarized under the following four headings:
- The role of doctorate holders in innovation and the knowledge economy
Where do doctorate holders work, as compared to other tertiary graduates? Do they follow research careers and in which sector and field?
- Labour market supply and demand
Do we train too many or too few research qualification holders? Are there mismatches in the labour market? Why do doctorate holders choose research careers in the public sector, in the private sector or leave research altogether? What is their perception of career opportunities and the employment situation in the public versus the private sector? Do they earn more than the average citizen? Which sectors of employment are the most profitable for them?
- Education to work
How long is the time of transition to employment or post-doctoral experience? How related is the job to the doctoral degree?
- Mobility
How mobile are research qualification holders between sectors? When do research qualification holders leave research for a career in management? How big are the flows of research qualification holders between countries? How common it is for research qualification holders to reside in a country on a non-permanent basis? What are the reasons for doctorate holders to return to country of origin?
The CDH statistics try to answer questions about the international mobility of highly skilled workers, as frequently discussed under the headings of ‘brain drain’ / ‘brain gain’ / ‘brain circulation’. In addition, these statistics address whether the quality and the number of research qualification holders educated correspond to the needs of the labour market. Furthermore, the issue of whether the national labour markets remain the main frame for this highly skilled group is addressed. Other issues are how well the skills of the highest educated are used by the society, as well as how attractive different careers are to the research qualification holders. The CDH statistics give policy makers much better information to address these questions.
Further Eurostat information
Publications
- Science, technology and innovation in Europe - Statistical book 2008
- Science, technology and innovation in Europe - Pocketbook 2008
Main tables
Dedicated section
Other information
- Decision (EC) 1608/2003 (Legal text)
- Regulation (EC) 753/2004 (Legal text)