The impact of CIFRE programme into early careers of PhD graduates in France

The queue for permanent research positions in the French academic sector has created a specific labour market for PhD graduates, characterised by a proliferation of post-doctoral programmes and public fixed-term contracts. At the same time, we observe an increasing proportion of young PhD graduates employed in the private sector, three years after graduation. In order to facilitate the transition of PhD graduates to the private sector, the Ministry of Research has developed a specific programme called CIFRE during the PhD, associating universities and firms. Our research focuses on the evaluation of this programme. More precisely, we try to assess their impact on the subsequent wage earned three year after the PhD graduation using a treatment effects method based on propensity score matching estimator. We use a longitudinal survey provided by the Céreq in 1999. Our results suggest some evidence of positive returns for the CIFRE programme.