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More and more people with a masters degree in science such as mathematics physics and chemistry do not get relevant work. New figures show that 16 per cent were unemployed six months after graduation. It is more than twice as high as the average among all masters degree candidates.This is a development that I am worried about. We are completely dependent on several wise minds with expertise in science when we are to find solutions for the future including in the climate. Almost everything that is built by humans is possible due to knowledge in science says Minister of Research and Higher Education Henrik Asheim.Tala appears in the Candidate Survey 2019 prepared by the Nordic Institute for the Study of Innovation Research and Education NIFU. 4000 people with a masters degree who completed their education in the spring of 2019 have responded to the survey. It measures how the new graduates assess their education and how they have fared in the labor market.Increasing unemployment over timeAlthough unemployment for the highly educated has been low in Norway it has increased for realists since 2007. At the same time working life itself has argued for increasing the number of study places in science. In 2019 the unemployment rate was almost 7 percentage points higher than for the humanists who have traditionally had difficulty finding relevant work.If there were a simple answer to why unemployment is rising among the realists it would be easier to do something about it. But we simply do not know what it is due to so we have to take a closer look says Asheim.Engineers and technologists more sought afterA survey among employers conducted by NIFU last year showed that 35 per cent of the companies especially want to employ more masters candidates from technology and engineering in the next few years. The corresponding figure for realists and natural scientists is only seven percent.Despite this more realists than technologists at masters level graduate each year. In 2019 1290 realists were trained against 916 technologists.Extra difficult to get a job as an immigrantWithin studies such as mathematics chemistry and physics students with an immigrant background are overrepresented. In the survey immigrants are defined as those who were born abroad and who have parents who were also born outside Norway.The survey shows that the unemployment rate for immigrants with a masters degree in science is 18 percentage points higher than for those born in Norway. Good knowledge of Norwegian helps but the difference is still great.Both the business community and politicians have for several years said that the key to good integration is education and work. When new graduates with an immigrant background do not even get a chance in working life we have failed. I hope the employers take this seriously and that they also feel a responsibility for more people to be included says Asheim.More collaboration with the business communityHe also believes that a closer collaboration with working life is what is needed to get more realists into work.In the spring the government will present a report to the Storting on precisely the cooperation between higher education and working life. The results from this survey provide important knowledge for this work.The study cities and working life must collaborate more on students learning so that they get closer to real life and the students receive training in finding new solutions to actual problems. This can be done through practice or student assignments in collaboration with working life says Asheim.
