This article is part of a series of materials about the level of young people’s interest in being employed in the labor market.
Most young people plan to work in line with the specialist area they study - 63% of the respondents, while 14% already work in accordance with their specialist area. Nevertheless, it is interesting to note that the young people who graduated and are working at the moment are most uncertain about the field they would like to build a professional career in - basically, every fifth one is already working or plans to work in a field different from the one that shows in their diplomas.
Those who get hired while still studying get to like their profession better
People who study and work at the same time seem to be the ones who are most certain about the chosen professional field. Could we then say that working while studying motivates young people to value the chosen fields even more? In that case, we have a piece of advice for the youth - try to get employed in your first years at university or college and this will help you love the profession you have chosen even more.
The intention of working in accordance with the profession depending on the young person’s current job, %
What are the departments that show the highest degree of uncertainty about actually working in the chosen field? It seems that teachers are the ones who are most unsure that they will follow a career corresponding to their diplomas (38%). Could this suggest the fact that those who wish to get a diploma but not necessarily a career choose teaching field?
The highest rate of people who already work according to their specialist area is recorded in the finance and accounting field (25%) and in the professional studies field (26%). It is interesting to note that you cannot really observe the rate of those who feel unsure in the case of doctors or future doctors - it is probably because the investment in the field of medicine is way too high for a graduate who has studied for 7 or 10 years to decide to eventually become an IT specialist or an accountant.
The intention of working according to the specialist area depending on the field the young person studied, %
*This graph does not show the professions that involved less than 10 respondents during the survey. This graph should be analyzed carefully, since the number of respondents in each category is below 30 people, which is considered to be a small sample.
Low wages? Goodbye to a job in line with the specialist area
The most disturbing aspect that makes young people change their career path is the small salary, mentioned by 43% of the people who do not plan to work according to their diplomas. It is interesting to note the fact that this reason firstly concerns men - 50% (17 p.p. more than women). Perhaps it is because men, following the social norms, tend to be more pragmatic, whereas women can afford a job that would be more of a hobby than a source of income.
Reasons why young people don’t plan to work according to the specialist area, N=47, %
In the next article we are going to tell you about the young people who combine studying and working and those who neither work, nor study. We are inviting you to follow our publications every Tuesday!
This study was carried out by Magenta Consulting in partnership with METRO Cash&Carry Moldova and Efes Vitanta Moldova Brewery.
Methodology: The study’s results are representative at national level, among the population aged 18 - 25, with a margin of sampling error of +/- 4.8%, at a level of reliability of 95%. The survey was conducted on a multistage stratified probability sample of 409 respondents. The data was collected between 9 and 18 July, 2017, via telephone, using CATI (Computer Assisted Telephone Interviewing) method.