The employment situation of technical higher education graduates started improving in mid-2020. Fortunately, the exceptionally high number of people laid off due to the COVID-19 pandemic quickly decreased, and due to the good demand for labor, the unemployment rate fell well below three percent in the spring of last year.
Unfortunately, the improvement in the employment situation evened out in the second half of last year, and the number of laid-off higher education graduates in the field of technology doubled.
The situation is now quite good, but the development trend is still difficult to predict.
I will continue with recent data about the situation, which unfortunately means a lot of numbers.
In January, the number of unemployed or fully laid-off academic engineers and architects was 2,240, which is about 3,1% of the corresponding workforce. The number of unemployed or laid-off people with a postgraduate degree in technology was 151. In January, the number of unemployed people with a higher academic degree or a postgraduate degree in the field of technology or ICT was 2,722. Of these, 331 had completed a master’s degree in Arts, Economic Sciences or Social Sciences, or a similar post-graduate degree.
Predicting the development of the employment situation in the whole country is just as difficult. According to Akava’s research unit and think-tank Akava Works, long-term unemployment – meaning unemployment that has lasted at least one year – has continued to fall, but the number of unemployment periods of less than a year has increased. Overall, unemployment has remained more or less unchanged, and it is slightly higher now than before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Even though there is uncertainty around the development of the employment situation, there is no reason to despair. Having a high level of expertise and developing your competence are sure-fire ways to increase your resistance to unemployment.
One way to develop your competence and consider new career options is to participate in TEK’s coaching and training courses, or to watch recordings of them.
This article was previously published as an editorial in TEK Magazine 2/2023.
