Trajectoires d’emploi des docteurs en Belgique

Impensés et limites des statistiques

Abstract

New PhD holders are at a professional crossroads. They either choose to pursue a career in the academic and scientific field (which means taking part in the postdoctoral competition that rarely leads to permanent positions), or they leave the University for other work environments which norms and codes are often unknown to them. While surveys and publications on PhD holders’ employability in French-speaking Europe proliferate, drawing up a report is a difficult task. This is mainly due to both incomplete and plural data, to multiform definitions, samples and temporalities and to contradictory results that make any comparison attempts particularly difficult. This paper tries nevertheless to take stock of the situation in Belgium through a literature review, and proposes avenues for further inquiry: distinguishing subpopulations within the statistical indicators, analyzing identities transactions in the career reconversion through socialization differentials and the concept of professional ethos.