What's next?

Design as a profession seems to have all the assets to increase influence in the knowledgebased economy. The labour market for designers shows a somewhat different picture. Low earnings, short-term, part-time or self-employed forms of work, multiple job-holdings and a high level of unemployment dominate the labour market. In this market designers are a vulnerable group of workers that are trying to balance the competitive environment with their personal motives regarding work. This thesis investigates the labour market for graduated designers who are working in the Netherlands. By a quantitative method the relative importance of factors that influence the profession that these designers carry out is being researched. By a multiple linear regression the influence of economic, work-related and socio-demographic factors are tested on the time that designers spent working in one or multiple fields. A combination of these three factors is found to effect the profession that designers carry out. Next to the economic aspects of income related to study, the application of creative skills outside the core creative field and job satisfaction are found to be influential. The results of this empirical study reflect that designers not only work in different fields out of economic motives, but also in order to apply creative skills more widely and to create a profession that matches their personal satisfaction.