The significance of social welfare guarantees for choosing academic profession: the case of Lithuanian PhD students

Abstract

In the welfare capitalism approach, social guarantees may be treated as a significant means of ensuring the supply of qualified working force. The empirical part of the study is based on the results of PhD students’ survey performed in order to ascertain their opinion about the social guarantees that are currently being provided or needed.
The results have shown that the PhD students are not satisfied with the current social financial support. The status of a PhD student does not provide social guarantees as the status of an employee does. Sickness and maternity (paternity) social insurance is central to PhD students. In their opinion, their scholarship is rather small and does not ensure proper living standards. Thus, the decreased attractiveness of PhD studies
among young people and the resulting decline in the supply of qualified working force might be anticipated in the near future as the social guarantees are not sufficient and the prospects for new PhDs to be employed in the academic field remain rather vague.