Anna Lewandowska

Department of Management, University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów, Poland

E-mail: alewandowska@wsiz.rzeszow.pl

ORCID 0000-0002-5351-8490

The impact of innovative professional qualifications on the sense of employment security: Evidence from Poland

Mateusz Stopa

Department of Social Sciences, University of Information Technology and Management in Rzeszów, Poland

E-mail: mateuszstopa@gmail.com

ORCID 0000-0002-9286-5073

Abstract. There is much discussion on how contemporary economy is based on innovativeness and how important innovative sectors become. There is much discussion on how contemporary economy is based on innovativeness and how important innovative sectors become. We can point on the examples of state education policy that stress the importance of innovative directions in education. This article examines whether formal education and skills in innovative sectors influence positively the sense of employment security. To achieve this goal we compare the results of the survey conducted on a representative sample of 10,906 Polish citizens of the working age, analyzing potential differences in average subjective situation in perspective of their formal education and skills. It is important to stress that formal education is measured in 95 directions of education on three different levels each: basic and secondary vocational education, higher education and professional courses. To the authors’ best knowledge, for the very first time formal education has been surveyed on such a detailed level, along with subjective perspective of individual situations at the labor market. The main conclusions are as follows: innovative qualifications are mostly of engineering and science character, they are more often chosen by men, and they do not correlate with a clearly greater feeling of own security at the labor market. Another factor that may influence the subjective perspective of employees and self-employed respondents is the character of the innovation itself: in Poland it is mostly connected with entrepreneurs that use their own resources (including financial ones) and R&D departments, rarely cooperating with third parties. This situation strengthens the position of employers and lowers workflows. Poland seems to be ahead of the situation when highly trained and qualified experts in “innovative” fields will freely change workplaces and professions, competing on labor market.

Received: December, 2019

1st Revision: March, 2020

Accepted: June, 2020

DOI: 10.14254/2071-789X.2020/13-3/5

JEL Classification: I21, I25, J24, O10, O31

Keywords: formal education, skills, labor market, innovation, Poland