STEM postgraduates are powering national economy – Study

Strong employment growth among STEM graduates in Denmark in recent years has been largely driven by the 20 most value-creating global companies with highly specialised employees occupying a larger share of these companies, according to a recent analysis published by the Confederation of Danish Industry (DI).

The report, STEM skills are in high demand at the country's biggest growth engines (the STEM-Growth) (STEM-kompetencer er i høj kurs hos landets største vækstlokomotiver), was written by Anne Tiedemann, Claus Aastrup Seidelin and Michelle Lillelund Kærgaard from DI.

It notes that the top 20 value-creating global companies in Denmark are an important engine for jobs in the Danish labour market, where they have accounted for more than a quarter of overall employment growth in the private sector over the past three years and contributed to job creation at all educational levels.

Meanwhile, the Danish Council for Research and Innovation Policy (DFIR) said there are signs that the Danish PhD programme – the driving force behind the Danish research and innovation engine – may need an update, and the council has convened a conference on 16 March to present preliminary recommendations to stakeholders on how to improve PhD education. A final report is due in June 2026.

STEM graduate growth

According to the STEM-Growth report, over the past three years (from December 2021 to December 2024), the private sector's overall employment of employees with a masters or PhD degree within the STEM area has risen by approximately 13,300 people.

Of this, the 20 companies account for just over 4,600 people, corresponding to just over a third, while they are behind over a quarter of the overall employment growth in business.

Since 2014, the proportion of employees in the 20 companies with a masters degree or PhD has risen from 26% in 2014 to 39% in 2023 – an increase of 13 percentage points. In comparison, the share of highly educated people in the other companies has only risen from 8 to 12%, corresponding to an increase of 4 percentage points.

A closer look at the educational mix among the top 20 companies’ highly educated employees shows that less than a third have a technical background (30%).

The second most common major is social sciences (28%), followed by natural sciences (21%). This is a markedly different distribution than in the rest of the private business world, where social science is by far the most widespread main field, with 42% for employees with a masters or PhD degree.

Then follows technical science and humanities with 18 and 15%, respectively, the report shows.

The second largest group of employees in the 20 companies is skilled labour, which today makes up just over a fifth of the employees, the DI report notes.

Most of the top 20 companies’ skilled employees are found within professional groups such as office graduates, retail graduates, industrial operators and electricians.

In comparison, almost every third employee in the rest of the private business world has a vocational education. Although the proportion of skilled employees is lower, the figures show that the top 20 companies also play an important role when it comes to production.

According to the DI report, STEM courses are particularly strongly represented in the top 20 companies.

In the top 20 companies, almost six out of 10 employees with either a higher education or a masters or PhD degree have a STEM background, while this is only the case for about one third in the rest of the private business community – probably due to the fact that the top 20 companies are to a greater extent represented in industries where competences within the STEM subjects are in particular demand.

The analysis from DI shows that Denmark’s 20 largest companies employ a markedly higher proportion of PhDs than the rest of the private business community.