Surveys

Followed by a cohort of Doctors graduating in 2012, interviewed in spring 2013 (1 year), 2015 (3 years) and 2017 (5 years)

Employment rate: After 3 years, 88% are employed, 3% are their own employer (including business creators), 6% are looking for work, 2% are returning to school, 1% are voluntarily unemployed.

Geographic location: After 3 year, 43% of employed Doctors are working abroad. Over the 5 years after the PhD, there is a trend for French doctors to return to France after international experience. 

Business sectors: After 3 years, 55% are employed in the higher education research and academic sector, 20% in the private Research and Development sector, 25% in a non-research sector. 5 years after the doctorate, there is a sustained shift in favour of private Research and Development and non-research sectors. Five years after graduation, there are twice as many Doctors in these sectors as in the spring following the defence. 

Sector: After 3 years, 64% are employed in the public sector. It can be seen that the share of Doctors employed in the business sector increases steadily over the 5-year period after graduation. Among them, 59% are employed in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) or medium-sized enterprises (MSEs) 5 years after graduation. Even if SMEs and large companies remain the most common type of companies where PhDs are employed, their share is clearly down in favour of MSEs over the 5-year period after the defence. 

Employment status: After 3 years, 53% are in EDI (long-term or permanent employment) (32% in the public sector; 85% in the private sector). In all business sectors, the employment of doctors stabilises during the 5 years following the defence (39% in EDI at 1 year and 76% in EDI at 5 years). The share of EDI doctors in the public sector is always lower than that of doctors in the business sector. 

Job satisfaction: After 3 years, 79% of employed doctors said they were satisfied or very satisfied with their jobs. 
Fit between the current situation and the career plans: At 3 years, 80% of the doctors in employment mention a good or very good fit. 

Added value of the doctorate : The doctors surveyed consider that the knowledge, skills and abilities acquired during their doctoral training represented an indispensable (47%), decisive (32%) or useful (18%) added value in their career development. 
Related documents: Adoc surveys (2017, 2016, 2015, 2014, 2013) 

Results of the 2016 Survey on 2013 graduates 

Doctoral candidates who defended their Doctoral thesis in the 2013 calendar form a group that was already broadly inserted in professional life before enrolling for a Doctorate: 40% were employed in teaching positions in secondary or higher education (of which 47% were tenured associate professors or trainees) and 17% were employed in managerial positions or in advanced intellectual professions (excluding teachers).
The survey was carried out in January 2016 (between 2 and 3 years after the PhD). 

Employment rate  78% are in employment, 11% are looking for work, 4% are retired or inactive (unemployed and not looking for work), 7% are in training and others

Geographic location: 30.6% of employed Doctors are posted abroad

Professions and socio-professional categories: 98.6% of employed doctors have a managerial job or an advanced intellectual profession, including : 

• Lecturers and related 17%*
• Associate or certified secondary school teachers 17%
• Associate or certified professors working in higher education 9.5%
• Temporary teaching staff in higher education 10.2% 
• Researchers and post-doctoral fellows 12.9%
• Other Public Service Executives 10.9%
• Information, Arts and Entertainment Executives 8.2%
• Corporate executives 6.1%

*including those employed abroad who declare they are in in a position equivalent to that of a lecturer) (8% of PhDs graduating in 2013 have obtained a job as a lecturer in France) 

Employment Status

• Public servant or public service trainee: 46.3%.
• Open-ended contract: 19%.
• Fixed-term contract (including vacancies): 32%.
• Other status: 2.7%.

Job satisfaction
84% of employed doctors say they are satisfied or very satisfied with the job. The aspects that most appealed to them were the interesting work and working conditions.
Related documents: the 3 documents of the 2016 analysis

More information
 

Related documents: the 2 IPDoc analyses of 2017 + 2010-2015 employment survey
+ "The early stages of a doctor's career: a strong differentiation of career paths ", Cereq Brief no.  354, May 2017, cereq.fr > publications > Cereq Brief