University pathways and graduate labour market outcomes in Italy: What Matters Where?

The first aim of this paper is to test whether graduates’ qualifying elements (GQE), work experience during university and academic performance, are associated with better labour market outcomes. The second aim is to test whether these associations vary across fields of study, linked to different occupational contexts. We observe that different GQE protect from different risks: previous jobs reduce the unemployment and unstable job rates, while higher final marks reduce the risk of being overeducated. Graduates from the humanistic field of study experience lower trade-offs between working during university and academic performance; at the same time, they gain more occupational stability from previous work during university, but also greater risk of entrapment in the condition of being overeducated. These are relevant differences to the changing Italian context; considering the increasing rate of humanistic graduates and of unstable job positions, the detected differences among fields of study could change the graduate labour market transition.