Survey: "PhDs, Generation 2003"

The figures compiled by the IREDU, apparently fairly stable with respect to the previous survey in 2004 pertaining to PhDs having received their degree in 2001, paint a rather dark picture of the professional status of PhDs three years after defending their thesis.

The unemployment rate hasn’t increased but remains fairly high at 11% and the institute notes that nearly one-fourth of the population is still working on a short-term contract basis. The public sector, which employs 64% of the PhDs, is not a guard against instability, because it also represents nearly 77% of the fixed-term contracts.

The disciplines most affected by unemployment and short-term employment are chemistry, life sciences and earth sciences. The unpleasant surprise comes from a confirmation in the rise in unemployment for engineering sciences (2% in 2001, 6% in 2004 and 9% in 2006). The nice surprise is an improved situation in literature and human sciences where the unemployment rate has decreased from 20% in 2001 to 10% in 2006 and the proportion of short-term contracts from 29 to 19%.


PhDs 2003: Survey on the professional integration of young PhDs – an assessment three years after the PhD, IREDU, January 2007.