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Job competition amongst university graduates

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  • Longhi, Simonetta
  • Brynin, Malcolm

Abstract

We test whether in Great Britain the recent increase in the supply of university graduates has a negative impact on their wages, and analyse to what extent the local labour market for graduates should be seen as regional rather than national. We do this by computing two measures of job competition amongst graduates: the first assumes that the labour market for graduates is regional, while the second assumes that it is national. We then compare the two estimated wage impacts. We find that job competition amongst graduates has a negative impact on graduate wages, that the labour market for graduates appears to be regional, and that a large part of the regional imbalance between labour supply and demand is corrected by commuting rather than migration. Also, the wage impact of job competition seems to differ by gender and across groups of occupations.

Suggested Citation

  • Longhi, Simonetta & Brynin, Malcolm, 2007. "Job competition amongst university graduates," ISER Working Paper Series 2007-18, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
  • Handle: RePEc:ese:iserwp:2007-18
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    Cited by:

    1. Hynninen, Sanna-Mari, 2009. "Is there a wage curve for the highly educated?," ISER Working Paper Series 2009-17, Institute for Social and Economic Research.

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