Most prevalent jobs of doctoral degree graduates by detailed field of study
Although it is well established that higher levels of educational attainment are generally associated with higher lifetime earnings (Frenette, 2019), and that this varies considerably by field of study (Ostrovsky and Frenette, 2014), less is known about the actual jobs held by graduates of specific...
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| Main Authors: | , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Statistics Canada
2024-09-01
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| Series: | Economic and Social Reports |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www150.statcan.gc.ca/n1/pub/36-28-0001/2024009/article/00002-eng.htm |
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| Summary: | Although it is well established that higher levels of educational attainment are generally associated with higher lifetime earnings (Frenette, 2019), and that this varies considerably by field of study (Ostrovsky and Frenette, 2014), less is known about the actual jobs held by graduates of specific disciplines. Understanding the relationship between field of study and occupation is important, as the type of work one does can play a considerable role in overall job satisfaction.
To inform this issue, recent articles have examined the detailed occupations held by young graduates of specific disciplines among graduates with a bachelor’s degree (Frenette and Handler, 2023), a college or CEGEP certificate or diploma (Frenette and Handler, 2024a), and a master’s degree (Frenette and Handler, 2024b).
The purpose of this short article is to present results from the 2021 Census of Population for doctoral degree graduates. Only individuals who worked during the census reference week (May 2 to 8, 2021) and who completed a Canadian doctoral degree program are included. Note that the intention is to show the five most prevalent jobs based on the five-digit 2021 National Occupational Classification (NOC 2021) code for each six-digit 2021 Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP 2021) code, but some results had to be suppressed. In these instances, the data were aggregated at higher levels of the NOC 2021 in a sequential manner (four digits, three digits, etc.). While there are plenty of noteworthy results in the tables, the remainder of this article will simply highlight a few key observations. Readers are invited to examine the results based on their specific interests.
Doctoral programs are often designed to train graduates for academic jobs, and this was reflected in the data. Among the 56 disciplines for men, 36 of the most prevalent jobs and 15 of the second most prevalent jobs were university professors and lecturers. Among the 56 disciplines for women, the results were almost identical: 35 of the most prevalent jobs and 15 of the second most prevalent jobs were university professors and lecturers.
Among the disciplines most highly linked to university professors and lecturers, female doctoral graduates were generally less likely than their male counterparts to be employed as university professors and lecturers. For example, the five disciplines most highly linked to university professors and lecturers among women were business administration and management, general (68.7%); registered nursing/registered nurse (61.0%); social work, general (56.6%); mathematics, general (56.2%); and exercise science and kinesiology (52.7%). In contrast, the five disciplines most highly linked to university professors and lecturers among men were business/commerce, general (74.2%); finance, general (69.2%); exercise science and kinesiology (69.0%); business administration and management, general (68.7%); and communication, general (66.4%).
Many doctoral graduates also found other jobs in the post-secondary education sector, such as post-secondary teaching and research assistants or college and other vocational instructors.
Graduates from many programs could be found in a variety of jobs. For example, the most prevalent job among male doctoral graduates of medical science/scientist programs was general practitioners and family physicians (36.1%), followed by specialists in clinical and laboratory medicine (21.6%), specialists in surgery (10.3%), university professors and lecturers (6.4%), and biologists and related scientists (3.2%). Among female doctoral graduates of computer science programs, the most prevalent job was university professors and lecturers (29.5%), followed by software developers and programmers (18.1%); data scientists (10.9%); computer, software and Web designers and developers (10.0%); and computer and information systems professionals (9.0%).
These findings inform the decisions of students interested in pursuing a doctoral degree regarding the types of jobs they might expect to hold. While graduates in many doctoral programs land academic jobs, many graduates find jobs outside academia. |
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| ISSN: | 2563-8955 |