Le retribuzioni dei laureati e le strategie di offerta sul mercato del lavoro in tempi di crisi = Pays of graduate employees and their strategies on the labour market in time of crisis

Since 2008, Italy has experienced diminishing investments in higher education, both in the public and in the private sphere, in spite of the recognition that this type of investment is a major way of facing the crisis. The percentage of youngsters entering the tertiary level of education has been also diminishing. The article analyses the factors of this trend at the level of individual choices, using mainly the AlmaLaurea datasets. A regression analysis explains pay differences among employed graduates respectively one, three and five years after graduation. Trends over time since 2007 show a decline in salaries at parity of purchasing power. An increasing number of graduates react to this loss of purchasing power through international migration, taking advantage of the pay gap within the EU labour market of highly qualified personnel. In this way, Italy experiences not only decreasing investments in higher education but also a loss of human capital in favour of other countries, which have not participated to the costs of its formation. Moreover, comparative analysis of average pays (at p.p.p.), using surveys similar to AlmaLaurea in other five European economies shows a significant pay gap between natives and Italian immigrants. The factors of this gap, which is very different according to the country, are still to be investigated.