Session Information
ERG SES H 08, Employment / labour
Parallel Paper Session
Contribution
The higher education system has expanded in many countries during the last couple of decades. This expansion has been linked with the development of high technologies and the emergence the knowledge society which led to higher standards in the labour market as employers in need of qualified employees search for people with higher education (OECD 2001). Previous research has established (Hansson 2007) that a better education and wider competencies of the working population ends up generating more economic activity and entrepreneurship and – consequently – more job opportunities for everybody, therefore the expansion of higher education does not lead to displacing the upper secondary educated people from the labour market. It is also well known, that in most developed countries unemployment is lower among people with higher education (OECD 2000), with some exceptions (Livanos, 2010). At the same time discussions have continued and even intensified during the recent financial economic crises, whether the higher education systems are capable of meeting the demands of modern, dynamic labour market (Little, Arthur 2010; Jacob, Weiss 2010; Smirnov 2008). Economic collisions bring rapid changes to the labour market and the higher education systems are expected to cater to new demands, despite being affected by these collisions themselves.
Two distinct periods of rapid economic change and its impact on the relations between higher education and labour market can be observed during the last 20years in the Latvian case: the transition to market economy after the collapse of Soviet Union in the 1990s (characteristic also to most countries of the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe) and the recent economic crisis of 2008-2009 (having affected almost every country to a certain extent).
During the 1990s – as the soviet system collapsed and the Latvian national statehood was regained (in 1991), the country saw a return to the market economy, which affected all walks of life. Large soviet industrial enterprises were closed, the associated vocational schools stood unable to provide any applicable training. The number of simple jobs suited for upper secondary school graduates with no additional training also decreased. At the same time new areas of social-economic activities emerged, generating demand for new fields of education. The Education Law, passed in 1991, opened the floodgates for decentralisation of the education system, allowing private higher education institutions to be founded, and the development of education market accelerated rapidly.
The financial and economic crisis of 2008-2009 scaled back the labour market and increased the amount of job seekers (from 7.5% in 2008 to 18.7% in 2010) as many businesses curtailed their activities or collapsed. Those still employed had their salaries cut, especially in the public sector. A resulting fall in household incomes worsened the decrease in enrolment in higher education, initially caused by a poor demographic situation.
The aim of the current research is to determine how the rapid changes in labour market caused by economic collisions affect the higher education and how capable the higher education system is to meet the demands of labour market in these circumstances.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Central Statistical Bureau of Republic of Latvia – online link: www.csb.gov.lv Hansson, B. (2007). Effects of the tertiary expansion: crowding-out effects and labour market matches for the higher educated. OECD Education Working Papers,10 Higher Education Quality Evaluation Centre.– online link: www.aiknc.lv Jacob, M., Weiss F. (2008). From higher education to work patterns of labpur market entry in Germany and the US. Higher Education, 60,529-542 Little, B., Arthur, L.(2010). Less time to study, less well prepared for work, yet satisfied with higher education: a UK perspective on links between higher education and the labour market. Journal of Education and Work, 23(3), 275-296 Livanos I. (2010). The relationship between higher education and labour market in Greece: the weakest link? Higher Education, 60, 473-489 OECD (2000). From initial education to working life. Making transitions work. Paris, 2000. OECD (2001). Reviews of National Policies for Education. Latvia. OECD Centre for Co-operation with Non-members, 2001. online link: http:// browse.oecdbookshop.org /oecd/pdfs/browseit/1401071E.PDF (07.03.2011) Register of Higher Education Institutions. – online link: http://doc.izm.gov.lv/ liis/org/pases.nsf/WebA1?OpenView Smirnov, L. (2008). Higher education in Serbia: from socialism to the free market economy and implications for the labour market. Higher Education in Europe, 33(4),437-446 Statistics on Higher Education, Ministry of Education and Science - online link: http:// izm.izm.gov.lv/registri-statistika/statistika-augstaka/2002/828.html
Search the ECER Programme
- Search for keywords and phrases in "Text Search"
- Restrict in which part of the abstracts to search in "Where to search"
- Search for authors and in the respective field.
- For planning your conference attendance you may want to use the conference app, which will be issued some weeks before the conference
- If you are a session chair, best look up your chairing duties in the conference system (Conftool) or the app.