Aarresaari (Career Services Network of Finnish Universities) has been conducting doctoral degree career monitoring since 2007. The target audience for career monitoring are PhDs who have graduated three years earlier. The aim of the national career monitoring is to obtain information on placement in the labor market and its quality and appropriateness, satisfaction with the degree completed and the skills required in working life.
Sectors of employment
Based on the data collected in years 2017-2023, 36% of the UEF doctoral graduates (from years 2014-2020) remain in the university sector three years after their graduation. Universities are important employers specifically among the graduates from the Faculty of Social Sciences and Business Studies with 57% of them working in this sector. Municipalities employ 18% of all doctoral graduates, with 31% of the graduates from the Faculty of Health Sciences. Private enterprises are the third most important employer with 16%, and specifically for graduates from the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Forestry with 24%. Government and governmental institutes employ 10% of doctoral graduates. Universities of applied sciences, associations and foundations employ altogether 9%, whereas 4% of the doctoral graduates are self-employed. The employment rate of doctoral graduates was 96% in total.
Benefits of the doctoral degree
Based on the data from the years 2014-2020, 56% of doctoral graduates had received a higher salary, 63% more demanding professional duties, and 58% more interesting professional duties. Less than half (47%) reported that their chances of success had improved in the labor market: 38% had landed a job with a new employer, and 49% had received a better position in their present workplace.
Satisfaction with the doctoral degree
Even though the doctoral degree had not necessarily brought financial benefits, 87% of the respondents reported to be partly or fully satisfied with the direction of their career. 80% of the respondents thought the job requirements corresponded with their doctoral education. A clear majority (68%) were satisfied with their doctoral degree, and 90% felt they could effectively utilize what they had learned in their current workplace.