Macroeconomic consequences of contemporary career planning of university students in the Czech Republic

Abstract

Having at least 40 percent of 30- to 34-year-olds completing third-level education is one of the five main targets for the EU in 2020. The Czech Republic has set a national aim of 32 percent, taking into account the different situations and circumstances that prevail in the Republic. Fifteen years ago, this indicator was at a mere 13.7 percent for the country, and the aim of 32 percent is indicative of a very important social change. The target indicator does not monitor the specialization of graduates and implicitly assumes that graduates will reproduce the structure of the economy. This paper examines the question of whether university students want to follow in their parents' steps regarding the job they had. The primary research survey data were obtained from two groups of respondents from Tomas Bata University in Zlín (387 in 2013 and 327 in 2014). The results show that only a small portion of students is considering a similar job as their parents had. It causes many problems for companies in the Czech Republic, having lacked mainly technically oriented university graduates in recent years. This paper analyses the causes and searches for the impact of these trends from a macroeconomic perspective. © Common Ground, Jena Švarcová, All Rights Reserved.