Students' Employment Entry Strategies in the Belarus Regulated Labour Market

Students' Employment Entry Strategies in the Belarus Regulated Labour Market


Titarenko L.G.

Dr. Sci. (Sociol.), Prof., Belarusian State University, Belarus; Associate Researcher, Sociological Institute of FCTAS RAS, Russia larissa@bsu.by

Shirokanova A.A.

Cand. Sci. (Sociol.), Assoc. Prof., National Research University Higher School of Economics, St. Petersburg, Russia ashirokanova@hse.ru

ID of the Article:


The article was prepared with the financial support of BRFFI grant No. Г18Р-241 and within the framework of the Basic Research Program of the HSE University Basic Research Program and funded by the Russian Academic Excellence Project ‘5-100’.


For citation:

Titarenko L.G., Shirokanova A.A. Students' Employment Entry Strategies in the Belarus Regulated Labour Market. Sotsiologicheskie issledovaniya [Sociological Studies]. 2020. No 12. P. 128-138




Abstract

A youth labour market limited in size and regulated by the state can engender specific strategies of market entry for university students. The article discusses the socio-economic context of a regulated labour market analyzing several starting work strategies of students depending on their working status, criteria for choosing the working place and their plans to practise their profession. Cluster analysis of survey data collected among the Belarusian universities’ students (2016, 2017, and 2019) characterises typical patterns of students’ labour strategies and their criteria for selecting employment place. The analysis demonstrates that a majority of students are driven by a simultaneous pursuit of value orientations to self-realization and material well-being and diverging, potentially conflicting welfare expectations and plans to work sticking to their education profile. Financial remuneration does not dominate their choices, which differs from the motivations of the young professionals according to other surveys. Labour market regulations play a controversial role: guaranteeing the first working place for the students they limit their freedom of choice in the labour sphere. Our findings contribute to the discussion of how students use differing strategies to solve the clash between their need for personal development and the limitations of a labour market with the government regulation of graduates’ employment.


Keywords
students; market entry strategies; value orientations; labour market regulations
Content No 12, 2020