Not all people who graduate can find jobs in the field they have specialized in. The aim of this study is to find out how many people succeed in getting a job suiting their specialty and what is the situation in labour market for the graduates of different fields. Eight different fields of specialty are differentiated, these are education; humanitarian fields and art; social sciences, business and justice; natural and exact sciences; technology, manufacturing and construction; agriculture; health and welfare, and service. The period analyzed is 1997-2004.

Out of the eight fields studied, not one has a participation rate that would have shown improvement during the period in question. The most positive changes could be seen in the participation rate of people graduating in the humanitarian fields and art as well as health and welfare. By the end of the period, the employment and participation rates as well as unemployment rate were the same or worse in social sciences, business and justice; technology, manufacturing and construction; agriculture; and service sectors.

 “How many different purviews are important for the graduates of a specific field also indicates how wide or narrow should be the knowledge of these purviews given at school.” – Hanna Kanep

Of all the main broad groups, education and health and welfare are the ones where the rate of people working in their field of specialization is the highest. These are also the ones where divergence is the smallest and orientation to different occupations and trades narrow. Most of the subject groups have big divergence and their orientation to different occupations and trades is wide. However, more than 70% of the people graduated in humanitarian field and arts are also occupied according to their specialty. People working in the fields of agriculture, technology, manufacturing, construction, and service can also be said not to have wandered far from their main specialisation, whereas people graduated from the fields of social sciences, business, and justice are mainly working in wholesale and retail, and the repair of different motor vehicles or household items.