Tuesday 18 October 2011

Transition of higher education graduates to the labour market: …

are employment procedures more meritocratic in the public sector?

an article by Caroline Berggren (University of Gothenburg) published in Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management Volume 33 Issue 2 (2011)

Abstract

As an employer, the public sector might be expected to be more meritocratic than the private sector, because of its democratic values and more transparent appointments procedures. In this context meritocratic means that the employer only considers characteristics such as degree and grades, relevant for the position in question.

The individuals in this study have completed one of four higher education degrees, and are aged 30-32 years (n = 22,133). Multinomial logistic regression analyses were employed. The results show that the public and the private sector are similar in that they both seem to prefer male graduates from old and well-established universities. One slight difference is that graduates’ family and national backgrounds appear to be less relevant in the public sector than in the private sector. These differences are present even when several other educational factors are the same.

Hazel’s comment:
Just goes to show that what many of us thought was happening actually is happening – at least in Sweden it is.


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