Graduate Employment in the Knowledge Society Norwegian Master's Level Graduates

Abstract

In this article, we intend to describe how the increased supply of graduates with a master's level education in humanities, law, economics and science and technology (S&T) are being utilised in the knowledge society. We compare employment for graduates in 2005/07 with employment for graduates in 1989/91, according to economic activity, sector and to some degree occupations (information-related occupations). We also give an indication of the competence level in these different work areas by looking at the level of wages. In the analysis, we have only included graduates who thought that they had made some use of their education. The results show that the main bulk of the increased number of graduates has been absorbed by knowledge-intensive economic activities. Especially important were the typical business sector economic activities, such as “professional and technical services” and “information and communication”. Of the growth in recruitment, 43 % occurred within these two economic activities, where the wage level was higher than that in higher education (HE), R&D and public administration, indicating that the skill level is no lower than in these economic activities. Also, other types of knowledge-intensive service activities had a large increase in recruitment, and in 2005/2007, such economic activities recruited 44 % of graduates. While recruitment to the traditional academic sector, the education system, research and development, and public administration also accounted in total for a considerable part of the increased recruitment, the proportion of graduates being employed in these economic activities was significantly reduced. The proportion of graduates working in low-skill economic activities remained roughly the same. The business sector absorbed three quarters of the growth in the supply of graduates. Finally, using information on occupation, the analysis also shows that one third of the growth in recruitment consisted of information-related jobs in the information sector or elsewhere, generally considered to be high-skilled work.