This study investigates the incidence of over-education amongst recent Australian bachelor degree graduates and its effect on their earnings. We find that between 24% and 37% of graduates were over-educated shortly after course completion, with over-education most common amongst young females and least common amongst older females. Over-education…

The rise of global university rankings has garnered much attention in recent years. Various ranking systems exist, but all are conceptually similar in that universities are evaluated and ranked on the basis of comparable indicators, with a focus on research performance. Although these rankings are widely criticised as over-simplistic and…

The transition from study to work is an important one. The jobs that graduates secure after completing their studies may very well shape the trajectory of their future careers, so an understanding of how job search influences employment outcomes has significant implications for theory and higher education practice. This article specifically…

The existence of an inverse relationship between wage levels and regional unemployment rates, commonly referred to as the wage curve, is well established in the economic literature and was described by Card (1995) as being "close to an empirical law of economics". This microeconomic wage-unemployment relationship, first identified by…