Changes in the role of educational qualifications on entry into the labour market: evidence from the Italian case

 This article aims to explore two research questions. First, it asks whether the relationship between education and occupational attainment has changed over the last century in Italy and whether tertiary education has attained greater influence than the upper secondary degree determining prestigious occupations. Secondly, the article investigates the role social origins play in setting the occupational position, despite educational attainment, and whether or not this role has changed over time. Moreover, the connection between education and work in Italy during the last fifty years is explored. For the purpose of my research, I used the highest educational qualification achieved as the indicator of educational performance. The empirical analysis is based on the Italian Household Longitudinal Survey, and the technique used is the robust regression analysis of the prestige score of the first job. The results suggest that a) the tertiary degree seems to produce more positive effect on occupational attainment in recent years, while the primary level, lower secondary level and each curriculum of upper secondary education are losing their influence, and b) social origins have an important role in determining the position of individuals’ first jobs, but over time, that determining power has became weaker.