Employment of STEM graduates in Kazakhstan: current situation

Abstract

The paper analyses the current situation in sphere of STEM graduates’ employment in Kazakhstan who obtained higher and postgraduate education with the STEM profile (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) in 2021. The aim of this study is to model the trajectories of STEM graduates directly after their graduation and assess the proportions of labor flows in the context of the national labor market of Kazakhstan. For the research, official statistics from the Bureau of National Statistics on the labor market and universities performance are used. The results of the analysis show that the majority of STEM graduates in Kazakhstan directly after graduation is employed with no connection to the STEM profile of activity. At the same time, for the vast majority of those who get a job related to the STEM profile after graduation, the job is not directly related to the profile of the received education. It has been found that annual enrollment in the STEM segment of the labor market can potentially affect only less than half of the graduates of STEM programs at both undergraduate, graduate, and PhD levels. Statistical data in conjunction with the results of previous qualitative studies made it possible to assess the prerequisites of graduates who focus on the effective use of acquired skills in the labor market. There are disparities associated with the number of STEM graduates, their desire to start a career in STEM fields and the employers’ practice of hiring. Further trajectories of empirical research in STEM training and further employment are suggested, taking into account the limitations of the data sets.