Title: The impact of academic inflation on the labour market: if everyone has a PhD, who will be the custodian?

Authors: Gon Yi; Mark E. McMurtrey

Addresses: Acxiom Corporation, 301 E. Dave Ward Dr., Conway, AR72032, USA ' Department of MIS, College of Business, University of Central Arkansas, 201 S. Donaghey Ave., Conway, AR 72035-0001, USA

Abstract: Depending on the structure of the nation's industry, we need different skilled people working in different sectors of industry. In general, as industry advances, more college level jobs are required. However, an over-emphasis in college education creates a surplus of college graduates, and the overqualified surplus start taking high school jobs. Meanwhile, more college graduates are considering upper-level degrees in order to secure their 'college-level' jobs. If this situation permeates, then what would be the financial benefit for the college graduates in high school jobs? This study shows that, however, college graduates tend to have better pay with better job security by taking jobs away from high school graduates. Society will have less efficiency since many will spend extra years in college even though they will not work in occupations that require these degrees (Hecker, 1992). Simply put, the industry structure in the USA is not ready for that many college graduates.

Keywords: academic inflation; international labour; employment trends; high school jobs; college jobs; college education; college graduates; labour market; graduate oversupply.

DOI: 10.1504/IJEF.2013.058605

International Journal of Electronic Finance, 2013 Vol.7 No.3/4, pp.250 - 262

Published online: 09 Jan 2014 *

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