Labour market success for culture graduates

Students who graduated in 1995 from postsecondary programs in culture had more problems finding work related to their studies than graduates in many other fields.

In 1997, two years after graduation, only one-third of employed culture graduates reported that their job was closely tied to their education, compared with more than one-half of other graduates.

A report in the latest edition of Focus on culture looks at the labour market experiences of recent culture graduates, with a focus on how university graduates fared compared to their community college and CEGEP counterparts.

The report found that the labour market appears to have shifted in the 1990s, favouring the specialized training or technical skills obtained through a college program, rather than a university program.

The majority of culture graduates in 1995 had attended university, but they had lower odds of finding work in culture industries than did college graduates from the same year. University graduates in culture programs were also more likely to return for more schooling than their college graduate counterparts.

Two years after graduation, 13% of university culture graduates worked in a culture occupation, while 15% worked in a culture industry. In comparison, college culture graduates fared somewhat better: 27% were working in a culture occupation, and 30% in a culture industry.

Fewer than 5% of culture graduates had at least six months of work experience in a culture industry prior to graduation. However, such experience had a major impact on the likelihood of securing a culture job. Culture graduates with prior related work experience were seven times more likely to work in the culture sector two years after graduation than their contemporaries with no such previous work experience.

Graduates with prior work experience in the culture sector were more likely to secure a job after graduation. They were also less likely to go back to school for further studies, and they had higher average earnings than those with no previous work experience in the sector.

Writing and technology skills, acquired through education or training, were also a significant predictor of working in the culture sector. Culture graduates who reported these skills had odds three times higher of working in the culture sector than graduates who did not report having these skills.

The article "What determines labour market success for recent culture graduates?" is available free of charge on Statistics Canada's Web site (). From the Our products and services page, choose In depth.

Also in this issue of Focus on culture is the article "An overview of the specialized design services industry." For more information, contact Klarka Zeman (613-951-2753) or Pat Adams (613-951-3473), Service Industries Division.

Focus on culture, Vol. 13, no. 4 (87-004-XIE, $7/$20; 87-004-XPB, $9/$27), is now available.

For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact Client Services (1-800-307-3382; fax: 613-951-9040; cult.tourstats@statcan.gc.ca;) or Marla Waltman Daschko (613-951-3028; marla.waltman-daschko@statcan.gc.ca), Culture, Tourism and the Centre for Education Statistics.