Researcher mobility and sector career choices among doctorate holders

The number of PhDs produced each year has increased greatly in OECD and many other countries. Arguments that increased educational stocks can benefit national competitiveness, productivity growth, and welfare are used to support the increased supply of doctorate holders in higher education. At the same time it is also clear that a growing number of doctorate holders will need to find employment outside the Higher Education sector. However, it is less clear what processes drive the resulting choice of sector and occupation. Key questions here are to what extent push factors such as labor market conditions influence sector choice and what pull factors lie behind self-selection into sectors. This article shows that the doctorate holders’ mobility toward other nonuniversity sectors are determined by individual specific characteristics and scientific field (pull factors) but may also be influenced by push factors such as the supply of PhDs and the number of new academic positions within their field.