For the Russian labor market, a master’s degree is of high value, the study emphasizes: in particular, it can open up access to managerial positions, which, as a rule, are better paid. This is especially true for those working in the field of economics and management, where the biggest gap between the salaries of bachelors and masters is 67%, with an average of 36%.
Demanded specialties
The highest share of employment is observed among graduates in the field of mathematical and computer sciences (78% for bachelors/specialists, 83% for masters), and technical and engineering sciences (77% for bachelors/specialists, 84% for masters). According to the report, it is in these areas that graduates can count on the highest salaries — the average salary of graduates in the field of mathematical and computer science in 2021 amounted to 102.1 thousand rubles. for bachelors and 123.7 thousand rubles. for masters, and among recently graduated engineers – 65.8 thousand and 80 thousand rubles. respectively.
The authors of the report predict further growth in the demand for such specialists in the labor market. “The demand for innovative technical competencies is increasing as digitalization intensifies,” the study notes.
A high proportion of employed graduates is also in socially significant areas of training: medicine and education. 84% of those who graduated from medical schools got a job, and young teachers did not have any problems – 74% of graduates of the undergraduate and 81% of the graduates of the magistracy were employed. At the same time, teachers in terms of salaries are at the bottom of the rating – “in the whole country, the level of salaries in the educational sector remains low,” the authors of the work state.
Graduates in the humanities and social sciences, as well as young workers in the arts and culture, were much less in demand. Thus, the share of employed graduates in the humanities was only 63.6%, in the arts – 60%.
“The position of graduates in the labor market, the level of their wages show significant problems in three subject areas of education — the humanities, agriculture, and education and pedagogy,” the authors conclude.
The impact of combining study and work on salary
On average, undergraduate graduates with work-study experience earned 29% more than graduates without similar experience, according to the study. For the master’s program, the combination played an even more significant role – the difference in the salary of a previously working and an experienced graduate was 48%. Moreover, a bachelor with work experience earned more than a master without student employment experience.
“Having experience signals that the employee already has practical professional competencies, which means that the company will not have to retrain him, wasting his time and resources,” the researchers note.
The authors of the report emphasize that part-time work is compatible with academic achievements: 59% of bachelors and specialists with red diplomas combined study with work. At the same time, the presence of a red diploma influenced the employment of only bachelor’s and specialist’s graduates, but not master’s, the study indicates: in the absence of experience, this is a signal of the graduate’s best abilities.
Starting salaries by region
The highest level of wages in the country was observed in regions specializing in mining, the authors of the study note. The leader in terms of normalized wages is the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug: the average salary of a young graduate is 110 thousand rubles, which is twice the national average. High earnings are also earned by graduates in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug (75 thousand rubles), Tyumen (74 thousand rubles), Magadan (69 thousand rubles) and Sakhalin (65 thousand rubles) regions.
Graduates of metropolitan universities, although they are higher than the average country level in terms of salaries, receive less than in the northern territories – an average of 61 thousand rubles. Among the regions with the lowest starting wages, the republics of the North Caucasus stand out: in Karachay-Cherkessia it is 34 thousand rubles, in Kabardino-Balkaria – 27 thousand rubles, in Ingushetia – 33 thousand rubles. Small indicators in the North Caucasus and Southern federal districts can be explained by their specialization in agriculture and the weak overall level of economic development, the authors of the study explain.
Gender inequality and mobility
Already at the start of a career, the difference in the average salaries of men and women is 25% – there is gender inequality in the labor market of graduates, the study states. High-paying professions remain “masculine”: women “systematically choose less paid professions such as economics and management, education, social sciences and the humanities.”
Almost 40% of graduates of Russian universities change their region of residence after receiving education, and in almost all cases, when they change regions, they can count on higher salaries, the authors of the report note. The most mobile are graduates whose specialty is related to economics, management and jurisprudence. Teachers show the greatest loyalty to the region of study.
“Most of the graduates leaving the regions of study rush to the capital regions with a high quality of life, developed labor markets that demand innovative competencies – to Moscow, the Moscow Region and St. Petersburg,” the authors of the report clarify.