From degree to precarity: A qualitative study of career uncertainty among social science students in Lahore

Abstract

This study aims to explore the career uncertainties, institutional supports, and labor market precarities of graduate students of the final year in social sciences at Lahore, Pakistan. The study follows a qualitative, interpretivist approach, based on the theories of Guy Standing regarding the precariat’s, credential inflation and employability frameworks. A purposive sampling approach was adopted by selecting 32 students from both public and private universities for semi-structured face to face interviews, later analyzed by using thematic analysis, reflexive as developed by Braun and Clarke in NVivo. The results identify four salient themes to (1) the identified lack of a theory-practice gap in social science curricula, (2) the psychological pressure due to job insecurity, (3) the institutional–market gap exposing the need to rely on non-institutional channels and (4) the tactical agency manifested by self-directed learning for upskilling. Findings show that graduate career uncertainty is not a psychological phenomenon but a structural one, rooted in the mismatch between the graduates' curricula and the actual career opportunities they can access, internal support services in universities, parents' expectations, and the university's fragmented professional network. This research contributes to critical discussions on graduate employability and institutional trust, as well as youth precarity in developing higher education settings.