Employment Characteristics of University Graduates in the Russian Labor Market

Abstract

The article presents the results of study of the positions of university graduates in the Russian labor market. The relevance of the subject is due to the fact that getting higher education instead of starting to work directly after school is now considered a social norm, and the fact that the structure of training in specialties and its quality, as stated by the top officials, does not meet the needs of the economy. The research is based on data of the first selective observation of employment of graduates of Rosstat, obtained in 2016, and the Ministry of Education and Science monitoring of graduates employment of 2015-2017. In the paper we assess the employment rate of young people with higher education by age groups; highlight regional features of university graduates employment; evaluate employment characteristics by groups of specialties; we study the distribution of employed university graduates by types of economic activity in comparison with the all-Russian structure of employment. It is concluded, that with an increase in the level of education the probability of success employment, including finding a job in the specialty, increases; and that job satisfaction is higher for those who work in their professional field. For NEET youth with higher education, recommendations on how to integrate into the labor market relations have been suggested.