The Impact of Bologna Process on the Graduate Labour Market: Demand and Supply

Abstract

The Bologna process inspired the Italian 3+2 reform of the university system which constitutes a big increase in the supply of college graduates. This paper is a preliminary attempt to identify the e¤ects of the reform on (i)the relative probability (relative to non-graduates) of employment of college graduates in the age range 25.34; (ii) their quality of employment measured with the relative probability of being employed with a temporary contract; (iii) the college wage premium. Using administrative data to identify the gradual introduction of the reform in di¤erent universities, we find that the reform increases signi.cantly the relative employment of graduates except for women in the South where the rapid increase of female post-reform graduates has not been absorbed by the weak labour market. Finally we .nd that post-reform college graduates have a signi.cantly lower college premium with respect to high school graduates than pre-reform graduates.