By field of study, the largest difference in the employment rate for university degree-holders who completed further studies compared with those who did not was 8.2 percentage points for those who first studied physical and life sciences and technologies (78.1% versus 69.9%). The second-largest difference was 6.7 percentage points for people who had a university degree in social and behavioural sciences and law and who completed further studies (81.3%) compared with those who did not (74.6%).

In terms of wages, 70% of employees with university degrees who completed another postsecondary program earned $800 or more per week, compared with 67% for those who did not.

The largest difference in weekly wages was found for employees whose highest degree was in visual and performing arts and communications technologies, with 65% of those who completed another program earning $800 or more per week, compared with 49% for those who did not. This difference is partly explained by occupational differences: people who completed further studies were more likely to be teachers and less likely to be in sales and service or art, culture, recreation and sport occupations.

For employees whose highest degree was in mathematics, computer and information sciences, the opposite effect was noted, as the proportion who earned $800 or more per week was actually lower among people who completed another program (71%) than among those who did not (82%). This difference is partly explained by occupational differences: people with a math or computer science degree who completed further studies were less likely to be in occupations in natural and applied sciences, and more likely to be in sales and service as well as in art, culture, recreation and sport occupations.

Chart 1 – Employment rate of people with a university degree, by major field of study of highest education credential and further postsecondary education, March 2014

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at The Daily — Further postsecondary education and labour market outcomes, March 2014

If there’s one thing that’s a nearly universal anxiety among cities, it’s brain drain, or the loss of educated residents to other places. I’ve written about this many times over the years, critiquing the way it is normally conceived.

Since brain drain seems to be a major concern in shrinking cities, I decided to take a look at the facts around brains in those places. Looking at the 28 metro areas among the 100 largest that had objective measures of shrinkage – in population and/or jobs – between 2000 and 2013, I looked what what happened to their educational attainment levels.

My results were published in my Manhattan Institute study “Brain Gain in America’s Shrinking Cities.” As the title implies, my key findings were:

Every major metro area in the country that has been losing population and/or jobs is actually gaining people with college degrees at double digit rates.

As a whole the shrinking city group is holding its own with the country in terms of educational attainment rates, and in many cases outperforming it.

Even among younger adults, most shrinking cities are adding more of them with degrees, increasing their educated population share, and even catching up with the rest of the country in their college degree attainment levels.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  America’s Shrinking Cities Are Gaining Brains | Newgeography.com

Decades of Gallup research have demonstrated that engaged employees are more productive, are less likely to be absent, have lower turnover, have fewer safety incidents and are more productive and profitable. And findings from the Gallup-Purdue Index — a study of more than 30,000 college graduates — reveal some surprising connections between the experiences students have in college and whether they are engaged in their work after college. Graduates who hit the mark on six key collegiate experiences identified in the Gallup-Purdue Index — the “big six” — are about three times more likely to be engaged in their work compared with graduates who missed the mark on all six.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Many College Graduates Not Equipped for Workplace Success

How Google is driving hiring standards Let’s fast forward to today. Jobvite recently released their 2015 Recruiter Nation Survey. It’s always an interesting read, with great data and metrics, but one metric stood out, to me, above all others:

“57 percent of organizations now report that GPAs are unimportant.”

Do you see what just happened?

If Jobvite would have asked organizations and recruiters in January of this year this same question, prior to Laszlo’s announcement, how do you think this number would be different? I’m telling you the number would have been around 5 percent or less!

GPA’s are unimportant. Really?

Here’s what Google, I mean Laszlo, forgot to tell everyone about why Google can hire people who have never gone to college:

THEY HIRE FREAKING GENIUSES THAT HAVE BEEN CODING IN THEIR PARENT’S BASEMENTS SINCE THEY WERE 12!

What Google is hiring is not what you are hiring

These kids don’t need college. College would bore them. They know more than the professors teaching them. Google gets to hire the top 1 percent of people, not just college grads.

You won’t get these geniuses who don’t need to go to college. You will probably get half-baked nitwits who need college, a good spanking, a few years to grow up, and probably deep therapy.

That’s because you are not Google.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at How Google Has Now Brainwashed Us All About Hiring | TLNT

When hiring recent college graduates, employers say they place the greatest priority on a demonstrated proficiency in skills and knowledge that cut across majors. Written and oral communication skills, teamwork skills, ethical decision-making, critical thinking skills, and the ability to apply knowledge in real-world settings are the most highly valued among the 17 skills and knowledge areas tested.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  Falling Short? College Learning and Career Success | Association of American Colleges & Universities

The official end of the Great Recession is considered to be June 2009 (National Bureau of Economic Research, 2010). However, its effects on employment, wages, and family finances have lingered, impacting students and their colleges and universities through 2009, and well beyond. This year’s completions report clearly shows the continuing effects of recession on the fall 2009 cohort:

• The overall size was larger still: at over 2.9 million, there were 8 percent more students in 2009 than in fall 2008.
• There was an even higher growth in the number of older students (over age 24 at first entry): 24 percent more than in fall 2008.The share of the cohort enrolling at less than full-time status increased by another half of a percentage point.
• The share of the cohort enrolling in community colleges grew an additional 1.3 percentage points.
• The continuation of each of these trends clearly points to an expectation that completion rates would decline further as well, which is precisely what we observed.

MAJOR FINDINGS AND IMPLICATIONS

Acceleration of the Decline in Overall Completion Rates

The overall national six-year completion rate for the fall 2009 cohort was 52.9 percent, a decline of 2.1 percentage points from the fall 2008 cohort, or twice the rate of decline that we observed in last year’s report when we compared the 2007 cohort to the 2008 cohort. Combined with a small decrease in the percent of students who were still enrolled in their sixth year without having earned a degree (less than one percentage point), the rate at which students were no longer enrolled in the final year of the study period increased 2.7 percentage points, from 30.3 percent for the fall 2008 cohort to 33.0 percent for the fall 2009 cohort. Despite the fall 2009 cohort’s lower rate of completion, the total number of graduates it produced six years later still increased (by about 71,000 students) because the fall 2009 cohort was much larger than that of fall 2008. The number of students from the 2009 starting cohort who left college without a credential or continuing enrollment in the sixth year also grew, by 153,000 students.

Examining the results by age and enrollment intensity reveals that all student populations experienced declines in their attainment rates. Nonetheless, some groups had larger declines than others. In particular, older students and exclusively full-time students experienced some of the largest drops in completion rates.

Declines in Completion Rates across Ages and Enrollment Intensities

We examined postsecondary outcomes for students in three age groups: those who began postsecondary education immediately after high school (age 20 or younger), those who delayed entering college for a few years (over age 20 through 24), and adult learners (over age 24). Compared to the fall 2008 cohort results, the decline in completion rates was largest for the delayed entry group, which fell 4.7 percentage points (from 38.3 to 33.6 percent). Adult learners experienced a decrease of 2.9 percentage points (from 42.1 to 39.2 percent) compared to a decrease of only 0.75 percentage points for the traditional-age group (from 59.3 to 58.6 percent).

Both of the older age groups also showed declines within each of the three enrollment intensity categories. The largest declines were among exclusively full-time students, who showed decreases of 9.2 percentage points in the delayed entry group and 7.2 percentage points among adult learners. These patterns were consistent when we examined the results for men and women separately. Within each gender group, the decline in the completion rate among exclusively full-time students was larger than the declines for part-time or mixed enrollment students. The same was also true among traditional-age students, by far the cohort’s largest age group, where the completion rate for those enrolled exclusively full time fell 1.1 percentage points, a steeper decline than for part-time or mixed enrollees.

Source: Completing College: A National View of Student Attainment Rates – Fall 2009 Cohort | National Student Clearinghouse Research Center

• 96% of Chief Academic Officers rate their institution as very / somewhat effective at preparing students for the world of work.
• 14% of Americans strongly agree that college graduates in this country are well-prepared for success in the workplace.
• 11% of business leaders strongly agree that graduating students have the skills ans competencies their business need.

The number of immigrants with higher education has grown at more than twice the rate of the same population among the U.S. born. Between 1990 and 2000, the college-educated immigrant population increased 89 percent from 3.1 million to 5.9 million, and a further 78 percent between 2000 and 2014 (from 5.9 million to 10.5 million, see Figure 1). The native-born college-educated population grew over the same periods by 32 percent and 39 percent, respectively. Given the faster rate of growth, the foreign-born share of the total college-educated population also increased over the last two and a half decades: from 10 percent in 1990 to 16 percent in 2014.

Figure 1. Number of College-Educated Individuals in the United States by Nativity, 1990-2014

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  College-Educated Immigrants in the United States | migrationpolicy.org

There is no time to waste. The skills gap continues to worsen while government policies to improve employer responsiveness through accreditation reform continue to fall short. More employers and business and industry associations now see the need and opportunity to explore an employer-led solution during a time of growing debate on the role of government in higher education, career and technical education, and workforce development.

For too long the debate over how we define and recognize quality in our education and workforce system has been narrowly framed around the 6,000 or so colleges and universities eligible to receive Title IV funding under the existing accreditation system.

If we are to truly unlock the value that employers have to offer, we need to challenge how the debate has been framed and open ourselves up to new solutions. Lessons learned from supply chain management offer a new way of thinking and invite employers to play a new leadership role from their unique position. This paper has argued for an employer-driven talent supplier recognition and certification system that can complement the existing accreditation system and be used to improve government-supported quality assurance over time. Such an approach can address employer requirements in today’s economy as well as improve outcomes for students and workers in postsecondary education and training.

Presented here is an approach as well as a roadmap for bringing about such a system. We hope it invites a dialogue—but more importantly spurs us to action.

While the challenges for building a new system are sizable, the benefits are also numerous, including a more responsive marketplace of providers who can help close the skills gap and improve outcomes for students and workers. Such an initiative would not only galvanize employer collaboration but also help reframe the public policy debate for years to come.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Changing the Debate on Quality Assurance in Higher Education (DRAFT) | U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

The proportional increase for those who grew up poor is much less than for those who did not. College graduates from families with an income below 185 percent of the federal poverty level (the eligibility threshold for the federal assisted lunch program) earn 91 percent more over their careers than high school graduates from the same income group. By comparison, college graduates from families with incomes above 185 percent of the FPL earned 162 percent more over their careers (between the ages of 25 and 62) than those with just a high school diploma:

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  A college degree is worth less if you are raised poor | Brookings Institution

Professional and vocational courses requiring 5 years’ post-secondary study are supposed to meet speci c needs for competences in a given area of employment. Young graduates believe they have acquired the speci c competences they think their employers require. In their view, the shortfall lies in their general competences. Is this a reason to question the increasingly vocational nature of university courses?

What emerges from the analysis – and this applies to all those surveyed – is a significant gap in the level required in employment in respect of competences relating to work organisation and activity management. Holders of master’s degrees in scientific subjects, and more particularly in the science and technology specialisms, are those among whom the gaps are greatest. Conversely, the gaps between some acquired and required competences are sometimes very small, or even positive, as in the case of the ‘Identifying and raising problems’ group of competences for holders of master’s degrees in social sciences (mainly psychology and sociology). For this last group of competences, the gap is, fairly logically, low among holders of master’s degrees in arts subjects, languages and humanities, where the level of acquired competences was already high. In other words, the more general the course of study was, the smaller the gap seems to be.

In short, regardless of track and specialism, graduates with five years’ post-secondary education seem to believe they have acquired a good level of general competences, even though they do not match up to what is expected of them in their jobs.

These results may be a cause for concern, at time when it is widely agreed that university courses need to be more vocational in nature in order to make them more specific. The analyses show that, from the point of view of the young graduates surveyed, there does not appear to be any major shortfall in the competences specific to the various disciplines. On the other hand, they also suggest that the common base of general competences and, to a lesser extent, the level of professional competences linked to certain specialisms could be strengthened in order to bring them into line with the level required by employers.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at Do young graduates with professional and vocational master’s degrees regard themselves as competent to hold their jobs?

On average, 25- to 54-year-old male bachelor’s degree graduates who worked full year, full time, in 2010, earned $87,543 in 2010 dollars (Chart 1).

Among them, management sciences and quantitative methods graduates earned the most—$130,547, or $43,004 more than the average male bachelor’s degree graduate (after adjusting for age).

These graduates were followed closely by graduates of chemical engineering ($120,148), geological and earth sciences/geosciences ($119,397), and finance and financial management services ($116,473). Of the 13 programs with above-average earnings, were in engineering and 4 were in business. Note that 2010 was in the midst of a recovery in natural resources prices, which may have benefited graduates from certain disciplines such as engineering and geology. More recently, world oil prices have declined (Gellatly 2015), and it remains to be seen how graduates in related fields have fared in the labour market.

At the other end of the spectrum, male bachelor’s degree graduates from theological and ministerial studies earned the least ($51,791) after adjusting for age. These graduates were followed closely by graduates from music ($55,942); social work ($56,407); and linguistics, comparative and related language studies and services ($58,301).

A key finding that emerges is that earnings varied considerably by specific fields, even within broad field groupings. For example, the primary 2011 CIP groupings combine architecture and engineering programs. However, while male graduates from all engineering programs but one earned more than the average male bachelor’s degree graduate, the average earnings of male architecture graduates was almost $9,000 below the overall average (after adjusting for age). Similarly, within the category of social and behavioural science and law, economics was the only field in which men had above-average earnings ($93,256)—although male political science and government graduates were close to the average ($85,069). In contrast, male general psychology graduates earned $68,905 on average ($24,352 less than their counterparts in economics), and male sociology graduates earned $73,934 on average ($19,322 less than their economics counterparts). Similar findings hold for other broad field of study groupings—that is, the average earnings of graduates varied considerably across specific disciplines within the broader classification. This finding holds more generally by sex and education level.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  Earnings of Postsecondary Graduates by Detailed Field of Study

To address the youth unemployment crisis, we are committed to increasing the number of young people who get on a pathway to economic success by being college and career ready.

To do this, first, we want to transform how states and cities develop career-focused education programs. JPMorgan Chase, the Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Association of State Directors of Career Technical Education Consortium are launching a multi-million dollar competition for states to expand access to career-pathway programs that can lead to high-skill, well-paying jobs.

Awarding grants to U.S. states will encourage them to implement career and technical education programs that correspond to the needs of area employers. High-quality, rigorous career technical programs would arm students with the skills to work as aviation mechanics, nursing technicians or IT specialists. The result is great jobs.Second, we need to eliminate the stigma attached to career and technical education. Classes dedicated to robotics, medical science and coding provide skills that employers desperately need. From Detroit to Baltimore to New Orleans, we need to make greater investments in developing new and effective models of career-focused education aligned with the needs of emerging industries like healthcare, logistics, finance and construction.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  Grads of LifeVoice: Rethinking The Usual Education Paths To Address Youth Unemployment – Forbes

Time to hit the books again? According to a new CareerBuilder survey, nearly a third (32 percent) of employers have increased their educational requirements over the past five years. More than a quarter (27 percent) are hiring employees with master’s degrees for positions primarily held by those with four-year degrees in the past, and 37 percent are hiring employees with college degrees for positions that had been primarily held by those with high school degrees.

More than 2,300 hiring and human resource managers in the private sector across industries participated in the nationwide survey, conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of CareerBuilder from November 4 and December 1, 2015.

What Employers Are Looking For

According to the survey, of the employers who have increased their education requirements in the past five years, most have done so for middle-skill jobs:

• Entry-level or low-skill: 46 percent
• Middle-skill: 61 percent
• High-skill: 43 percent

When asked why they are hiring more employees with college degrees for positions that had been primarily for those with high school diplomas in the past, 60 percent of these employers said skills for those positions have evolved, requiring higher educated labor, and 56 percent said they’re able to get college-educated labor for those positions because of the tight job market.

As a result of increasing their educational requirements, employers have witnessed a positive impact on:

• Higher quality work: 57 percent
• Productivity: 43 percent
• Communication: 38 percent
• Innovation/idea generation: 37 percent
• Employee retention: 32 percent
• Customer loyalty: 25 percent
• Revenue: 21 percent

Higher degrees not only boost candidates’ chances of hired, but they can help their chances of getting promoted as well — more than a third (36 percent) say they are unlikely to promote someone who doesn’t have a college degree.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  More Than 1 In 4 Employers are Hiring Employees with Master’s Degrees for Positions that had Been Primarily Held by Those with Four-Year Degrees in the Past, According to New CareerBuilder Survey – CareerBuilder

The role of higher education in the economy and its potential contribution to supporting economic recovery and development continues to attract considerable attention in all developed countries. 2013 saw the 50th anniversary of the Robbins Report on Higher Education, which shaped much of today’s UK higher education system. Fifty years on, there is a renewed and extensive public debate about
the purpose and nature of higher education, the types of higher education institution society wants and, in particular, who should pay for the cost of a modern higher education sector. There is increasing divergence of higher education policy across the constituent nations of the UK. In England a new regulatory system for higher education has been announced and a new tuition fee system has been applied which has shifted the major burden for the cost of undergraduate tuition away from the public sector and onto the private individual. There have been variants of this shift in the tuition cost burden for institutions in Wales and Northern Ireland also, with Scotland continuing to support undergraduate tuition through the public purse. Other UK-wide political developments have impacted on higher education, with increased regulation of the international student market. Tighter government restrictions on the recruitment of international students have become an increasing challenge for universities to manage.

Through both direct and secondary or multiplier effects, the higher education sector generated over £73.11 billion of output and 757,268 full-time- equivalent (FTE) jobs throughout the economy. The total employment generated was equivalent to around 2.7% of all UK employment in 2011.

At the same time the importance of universities to supporting innovation and growth, particularly at a regional level, is coming under the spotlight again. The 2013 Witty Review of Universities and Growth explored the potential for better and stronger links between universities and their host regions, investigating how far universities can help regions develop their comparative strengths (particularly in the light of the EU Smart Specialisation Strategy1 for regions). The contribution of universities to the economy, through the education of graduates and through research and knowledge exchange,is the subject of much discussion and debate. However, it is sometimes overlooked that the higher education sector forms a core part of the economic infrastructure of the country. As large enterprises in themselves universities are major employers and they generate economic activity, attract export earnings and contribute to gross domestic product (GDP). The strength of the sector and its effectiveness in generating economic activity has been all the more important to the UK in the recent recession when other sectors of the economy have been contracting. Policy changes that impact on the sector have wider macroeconomic ramifications. This study presents a timely reminder of the very real, immediate and tangible impact made by the higher education sector in the UK economy.

This study presents key economic features of UK higher education in the academic year 2011–12 and those aspects of its contribution to the UK economy that can be readily measured. It does not include any assessment of the value of the sector’s collaboration with business or the impact of new ideas generated by universities or their graduates. These topics have been, and continue to be, the subject of many other studies. The sector is analysed as a conventional industry, highlighting major economic characteristics of UK universities, including their sources of revenue, employment created, output generated and export earnings attracted. Modelled estimates are made of the economic activity generated in other sectors of the economy through the secondary or ‘knock-on’ multiplier effects of expenditure by universities and their staff, as well as international students and visitors. Additional analysis is undertaken of the overall contribution of the higher education sector to gross domestic product (GDP) and its efficiency in generating impact is compared with a range of other sectors of the economy. This study is of 2011–12, the year immediately predating the introduction of the 2012 higher education reforms and the consequent increase in privately paid tuition fees in England and the prospective opening up of the sector to some for- profit providers. Hence it provides a record of the UK higher education sector immediately prior to the most radical higher education policy shift in recent times.

The study examines the key economic characteristics of universities and the impact generated by their activity. It also examines the impact of the off-campus expenditure of non-UK- domiciled students (that is, students from the rest of the EU as well as non-EU students) studying at UK universities.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  Universities UK – The impact of universities on the UK economy

In this follow-up study, college students who transferred to one Ontario university in 2008–2009 were compared to non-transfer students using several different measures of academic success at university. When compared to non-transfer students, college transfer students earned fewer credits each year, had lower GPAs, and were less able to earn credits from course attempts. The differences were small for students’ first and second years but larger in years three and four. Despite the lower GPA, college transfer students were not more likely than non-transfer students to be eligible for academic suspension. College transfer students also attempted fewer courses and were much less likely to persist to Year 4. By spring 2012 (after four years of university), the college transfer students were more likely than non-transfer students to have graduated, but their degree of choice was a 15-credit three-year degree (as opposed to a 20-credit four-year honours or non-honours degree).

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  Transfers from College to One Ontario University: A Four-Year Outcome Study | Stewart | Canadian Journal of Higher Education

A’s were the most common grade on college campuses in 2013, accounting for 45% of grades awarded to students, according to an analysis of grade data at more than 80 schools by Stuart Rojstaczer, an independent researcher, and Chris Healy, a computer science professor at Furman University. By contrast, college students were most likely to get C’s leading up to the Vietnam War, accounting for about 35% of grades awarded. The two researchers have been collecting and reporting on grade data for years.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  It’s never been easier to get an A in a college class (or more expensive) – MarketWatch

Some aspects of tertiary education in New Zealand have transformed nearly beyond recognition in just the last few decades – for example, the ability of nearly every student to access almost unlimited content in real time via the internet. Other aspects, such as a university lecture, would be readily recognisable to medieval scholars.

The big social, technological, economic and demographic trends that drove these transformations are ongoing, and could gain momentum. These trends present challenges and opportunities to the tertiary education system and its participants.
Public and private expenditure on tertiary education in New Zealand is about 2.1% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), compared to an OECD average of 1.6% (OECD, 2015). This is a significant level of expenditure and New Zealanders should expect that our tertiary education system is capable of fuelling a highly successful and inclusive economy and society.

The Government has asked the Commission to carry out an inquiry into “new models of tertiary education”.

This inquiry will explore the big trends affecting the tertiary education system, consider how innovative “new models” can help the system respond positively to them, and consider system and institutional settings that encourage or inhibit new models.

“New models” are new and improved ways of achieving an end. In this inquiry new models could be improved ways of facilitating learning or better ways of delivering tertiary education. New models could potentially include different policy, regulatory, funding and quality assurance arrangements. The inquiry will consider models that already exist or are emerging in New Zealand, as well as things happening in other countries that could be adapted to local conditions.

The terms of reference for the inquiry suggest that there is currently “considerable inertia” in the New Zealand system, and an unwillingness to try new things. This inquiry will consider why that might be, if it is so; why some parts of the system innovate more than others; and how the system overall could become more innovative.

Reflecting the terms of reference, the inquiry will concentrate on educational outcomes generated by the system. This will require the Commission to consider what a good tertiary education system looks like, and how that can be measured.

Figure 2 outlines some questions the inquiry will consider over the next 12 months, grouped into five major trends outlined in the terms of reference. This issues paper does not attempt to answer these questions. Instead, it describes some information about the system and trends influencing it, and seeks submissions to help the Commission develop its advice and recommendations.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  New models of tertiary education: issues paper

On 2 February 2016 AHEIA released the Australian Higher Education Workforce of the Future Report, which was commissioned in association with the DVCs Corporate group of Universities Australia to put the spotlight on how to enable universities to compete in a globally competitive market.

The report looks at the university environment as affected by environmental change drivers over the next 10-15 years, and concludes that major changes to the higher education workforce are needed, and are needed now. It sets out a roadmap for implementation of necessary changes, that will differ in emphasis from university to university in 12 related areas covering capability, engagement and structure of the university workforce.

The key findings of the report include: The urgent need for change and differentiation – universities need to act now to stay competitive, and for the sector as a whole to remain globally competitive.

The diversity of universities will increase in the future. Their differentiation will be strongly influenced by how they choose to respond to external drivers of change.

Universities need to adopt business models that fit their future needs – there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach that needs to be taken.

All universities will need a flexible, agile workforce in the future. Whilst many universities have made recent investments in workforce reform, change is needed to develop a workforce that is sufficiently flexible, specialised and self-renewing to be properly responsive to changing stakeholder expectations.

The study revealed that 42% of university leaders believe government policy and funding will be the most significant driver over the period.  It also revealed the importance of differentiating and future proofing university business models.  The report identifies a range of workforce reforms that universities need to consider implementing to better align their workforces to strategic priorities.

All universities will need to consider the design and skill requirements of existing and new job roles, with a view to introducing flexibility that is responsive to employer and student demands. The report also highlights the need to invest in leadership, and a need to look at the design of performance management and reward systems.

The report concludes that:”Should the sector not undertake this change now … the challenges identified above and throughout this report will continue to accelerate, putting more pressure on both the higher education sector and its workforce as a whole, and also Australia’s future workforce and economic prosperity.”

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  Higher Education Workforce of the Future | AHEIA

The Australian economy is undergoing a major transition. A shift is underway from the mining construction boom era—in which significant resources were applied to the development of our natural resources— to a new phase in our history. We are now faced with the challenge of diversifying our economy and seizing new opportunities through innovation, entrepreneurship and greater integration within our region. The development of our human capital—the skills and smarts of our people—is now a crucial element of Australia’s economic development into the future.

Higher education plays a critical role in developing Australia’s human capital. The ability of our nation to expand the knowledge and skills of our workforce to drive productivity growth is vital if Australia is to raise living standards into the future. While the private benefits of higher education have been well documented, minimal attention has been paid to the associated spillover benefits of higher education to other parts of the workforce and the Australian community.

To fill this knowledge gap, this report estimates the benefits to the wider economy and to workers without a degree when new higher education graduates enter the Australian workforce.

The analysis is based on an application of a computable general equilibrium (CGE) model. The Cadence Economics General Equilibrium Model (CEGEM) is of a genre of economic models that are used extensively by the Australian Government to assess the economy-wide impacts of major policy changes and economic developments. For example, the Commonwealth Treasury undertook a series of assessments of the economic impacts of climate change response policies using CGE models in the early 2000s. The Productivity Commission has also used CGE modelling to consider the impact of economic reforms.

In spite of the obvious advantages of CGE models, which contain all the linkages between employment, tax and consumption, they have not been widely used to capture the spillover effects from new graduates entering the workforce. This report provides a powerful new insight into the positive effects of new university graduates on Australia’s jobs, wages and economic growth.

The estimated spillover benefits

The growth in economic activity generated by graduates entering the workforce improves the employment prospects for other parts of the labour market. Higher levels of economic activity and income increase the demand for retail services and, therefore, demand for employment in that industry—including for those people without degrees. In addition, at the industry level, having access to a more productive workforce of those with university degrees improves the competitiveness of Australian industry. This increased competitiveness will increase output and employment in these industries, including the demand for those without university degrees. For example, access to employees with degrees can greatly improve the competitiveness of our traditional exporters such as agriculture and mining. As these sectors expand, there would be a corresponding increase in demand for employees without university degrees.

The positive effects of new university graduates are seen not only in the creation of new jobs for those without university degrees but also in their wages, as well as the overall employment and economic growth of the nation.

Jobs

•   For every 1,000 university graduates entering the workforce, 120 new jobs are created for people without a university degree.
•   In 2014–15, the effect of new graduates entering the Australian workforce created 25,000 new jobs for people without a university degree.The spillover employment benefits for those without a university degree are spread across a range of jobs and industries. Tradespeople, managers, machinery drivers, labourers and administrative workers benefit the most from graduates entering the workforce. For example, an additional 8,064 technicians and trades workers found jobs in 2014–15 because of new university graduates entering the Australian workforce. An additional 4,383 labourers found jobs for the same reason.

Wages

•   In 2014–15, the wages of workers without a university degree rose by $4.8 billion due to new university graduates entering the Australian workforce.
•   This equates to a weekly wage increase of $12.60 in 2014–15—or $655 a year—for workers without a university degree due to the spillover benefits of university education.
•   The estimated wage increase is 1.12 per cent. This is comparable with earlier research by Moretti (2004) which was based on analysis of US data.

Growth

•   Without new university graduates entering the workforce, the growth rate in employment for those without a university degree would have been zero over the last eight years.
•   University graduates account for almost 90 per cent of Australia’s jobs growth over the last eight years.
•   In 2014–15, skilled graduates entering the Australian workforce grew the nation’s economic activity by $26.4 billion (as measured by GDP).
•   Every graduate entering the workforce increases Australian GDP by $124,450.
•   Due to higher economic activity driven by new university graduates entering the Australian workforce, government revenue increased by approximately $5.1 billion in 2014–15.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  The graduate effect: higher education spillovers to the Australian workforce