Public Policies Driving Individual Bifurcations
Comparing the Generation 98 survey in France with the follow-up survey of graduates in Canada, we provide a quantification of bifurcations in early professional life. We show that bifurcations of graduated leavers of post-secondary programs are almost 1 1⁄2 times higher in Canada than in France. This difference can be explained by more frequent career shifts on the Canadian labor market than on the French one while training appears similarly predictive of career paths in both countries. The analysis of the national ingredients of these bifurcations show that Canadian public policies lead to more career shifts than French ones by making easier the return to school during the first years of working-life and in offering less protective employment statuses by to graduates. Conversely, training to become teachers and Ph.Ds. increases the chances of bifurcating in France while decreasing these chances in Canada. Finally, some French graduates are able to take advantage of their period of unemployment to initiate a career change.