The role of post-secondary education

In 1986, about one-quarter of a million Canadian students graduated from universities, community colleges, and trade or vocational programs. Given the high cost of post-secondary education, both to the individual and to society, it is important to understand how the transition process works for these graduates and what factors contribute to a successful transition.

In this section, we review three sets of factors that have an impact on the outcome of the transition process:

• the economic climate, which affects the number of hirings and knowledge and skill requirements;
• human capital, including education and prior work experience; and
• membership in the equity groups: women, aboriginal peoples, people with disabilities, and members of visible minorities.

Statistics Canada conducted three national surveys for Employment and Immigration Canada to examine the activities of post-secondary graduates during the period following graduation. Some of the results from the most recent one appear in The Class of 1986: A Compendium of Findings (Statistics Canada, December 1991), which looks at the 1988 situation of students who graduated from post-secondary institutions in 1986. (Unfortunately, this report does not identify visible minority status.) The graduates were classified into five levels: bachelors, masters, and doctorates (university), college graduates, and trade or vocational school graduates.

The indicators used to measure the outcome of the transition process were: status in the labour market; the proportion who experienced unemployment during the transition period; the length of unemployment before getting a job; the permanency of the job; salary; relation between the job and level of education; the education requirements of the job; and participation in cooperative education.

The extent to which graduates are successful in making the transition into the labour force is a function of economic conditions. In 1984, when unemployment rates in the total labour force were high, the unemployment rates for graduates were also markedly high. By 1988, unemployment rates for the labour force had fallen; a commensurate decline occurred in unemployment rate for post-secondary graduates of 1986 who had significantly less difficulty finding jobs than the 1982 cohort.