Analytical Modelling of Graduated Economists’ Employment

Higher education institutions are fully engaged in producing adequate labour supply. Targeting the persistently high youth unemployment should be among the top governmental priorities in a mutual benefiting environment for the economy and the HEIs. Earlier studies and practical experience for the national labour market imposes indications for a possible labour market mismatch. As the main objective, this research targets the two labour market segments (employment and self-employment) in North Macedonia for graduated economists at the Faculty of Economics – Skopje at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje. Through the utilisation of machine learning and cluster analysis techniques for graduated economists between 2017 and 2021, we found that age, academic success, family’s income, and having some type of informal education, significantly determine the employment status of graduated economists. Moreover, there is no clear-cut evidence that the gender and the bachelor programme are one of the main determinants, even though positive linkage for females, studying financial management and Accounting and auditing, and employment is observed. The empirical findings provide clear direction for policy creation regarding study programmes and higher youth employment, both for the national government and the higher education institutions.