Beyond earnings: the multidimensional job quality premiums for university graduates in European labour market
利用欧洲工作条件调查数据，研究大学毕业生在技能与自主性、物理环境等六个工作质量维度上的溢价，发现溢价集中在特定维度且受国家高等教育普及率调节。
This study examines how university education relates to multidimensional job quality beyond conventional earnings premiums across European labour markets. Drawing on the European Working Conditions Survey data collected in 2005, 2010 and 2015 from 26 countries, complemented by various national indicators, the study employs random-slope multilevel models to investigate graduate premiums across six job quality dimensions, their temporal evolution and the moderating role of educational expansion. The findings reveal substantial but highly heterogeneous graduate job quality premiums across different dimensions. The largest premium appears in Skills and Discretion, with moderate premiums in Physical Environment and Prospects. In contrast, no significant premiums are found for Social Environment, Working Time Quality or Work Intensity, indicating that graduate advantages are concentrated in specific job quality dimensions rather than universally distributed. Temporal patterns reveal selective changes rather than systematic stability, with temporary deteriorations in Physical Environment and Work Intensity around 2010 and some decline in Skills and Discretion by 2015. The magnitude of graduate premiums is moderated by national levels of tertiary educational attainment, with countries that have higher tertiary attainment rates, on average, show smaller job quality premiums in Skills and Discretion and Physical Environment, though this pattern is absent in other dimensions. These findings demonstrate that returns to higher education are neither uniform across job quality dimensions nor stable across institutional contexts, highlighting the importance of multidimensional frameworks for understanding graduate labour market outcomes.