Beyond Earnings: The Multidimensional Job Quality Premiums for University Graduates in European Labour Market

• In Event: Data-Driven Insights into Student Retention, Attainment, and Beyond

Abstract

This study examines how university education shapes multidimensional job quality premiums beyond earnings across European labour markets. Utilising data from the European Working Conditions Survey (2005-2015), the study employs random-slope multilevel models to investigate graduate premiums across six job quality dimensions, their temporal evolution and how educational expansion moderates these advantages. The findings reveal heterogeneous graduate job quality premiums. The largest advantages appear in Skills and Discretion and Physical Environment, with moderate premiums in Prospects and modest advantages in Social Environment. University education confers no significant benefits for Working Time Quality and Work Intensity. Educational expansion moderates job quality premiums, with graduate advantages diminishing in countries with higher tertiary attainment rates, providing evidence for credential inflation effects in non-monetary returns.

Authors

• Sangwoo Lee, University of Warwick

• Cesar Burga Idrogo, University College London - IOE