Not only experience of secondary employment at university: role of higher education in reducing labor precarization of young specialists

Abstract

Introduction. In the context of the instability of the labor market affected by the pandemic, the interest of the state and society to the problem of deregulation of labor relations is increasing. One of the most vulnerable social groups is young professionals who have just graduated from university and do not have significant experience of interacting with employers. The purpose of the article is to study the processes of precarization of youth employment by assessing and identifying the orientation of professional and educational trajectories of university graduates belonging to the precariat in the context of their failure or success. Materials and methods. The monitoring of university graduates employed in the Ural region and beyond in 2018-2021 is used. The empirical material includes survey data (5213 full-time bachelors and masters) and administrative data. Methods of classification and factor analysis (allocation of the principal components) are applied. Results. The classification of the precariat (34.3% in the graduation structure) is proposed, including freelancers (0.9%), IT specialists (6.9%) employed on a part-time basis (6.5%), foreign students (1.5%) continuing their studies from among the unemployed (7.0%), unemployed graduates (8.6%), graduates employed in outsourcing and a mixed type of the listed groups (2.9%). Three groups of factors determining the specifics of the formation of the precariat among young professionals were identified: external factors – (1) the rate in the behavior strategy for rapid integration in the labor market (the significance of the high salary factor = 0.683); (2) the development of a career trajectory (the significance of the factor of having subordinates = 0.784, significance of having a managerial position = 0.722); internal factors – (3) orientation to self-realization in professional activity, deepening of competencies (the significance of the factor of continuing training = 0.648). Secondary employment at the university helps graduates immediately after graduation to reduce the risk of unemployment, to achieve faster integration in the labor market (among employed precariates – 85% combined work and study at the university, among the unemployed the share was 63%), but it is not a differentiating factor in determining the principal components. The focus of higher education (in particular, IT specialties, mathematics and engineering) largely determines the financial success in the group of unstable employees. Conclusions. In the modern conditions of the labor market, the precariat cannot strictly be called an unsuccessful social group. The advantage of the unstable employed graduates is that they are able to adapt to the uncertainty of the labor market by choosing flexible forms of employment, sometimes even without losing in wages, career trajectory, enhancement of their competencies, constantly updating knowledge, skills, self-realization in professional activity.