This project is an ARC-funded Linkage Grant study jointly with RMIT University, the Victorian Department of Education and Training and the Skilled Group Ltd. NCVER is an industry partner in the project, and the purpose of the study is to examine the work, skill and benefit trajectories of parallel cohorts of trade and bachelor graduates over the first ten years of their working lives.
* Analyse and compare the patterns of labour market participation between and within each cohort group over a ten year period, including occupational shifts, separations, promotions, re-entry and shifts in status from employee to employer. The reasons for each change will also be analysed.
* Analyse and compare the patterns of skill and qualification acquisition between and within each cohort group over this ten year period.
* Analyse and compare the benefit profiles, other than just wage based income, at each job shift and at ten years after graduation between and within the cohorts. A tested hypothesis will be that there will be no substantial difference in the distribution of benefits (not just wage based income) between the two independent samples.
* Develop new measures of benefit that go beyond traditional rate of return measures based on earnings of employees. Many traditional studies measure earned income as a wage attributable to an individual, rather than accumulated benefits that are sometimes distributed amongst family members or other entities. The use of "employees" also excludes many trade qualified people who are owner/operators of successful small to medium enterprises.
* Analyse the employment and training practices of a small group of employers who engage trade and graduate employees.
* Develop a transactional model of engagement and progression of skilled individuals in the workforce that links changes in labour market participation and benefits to chains of events associated with job and life satisfaction, skill acquisition, and family or household formation.
The project will use a variety of research methods, including a survey of graduates, statistical modeling and desk-based activities.
The research team consists of Associate Professor Heather Fehring, Professor Judith Bessant, Alan Montague and Jeff Malley from RMIT University, and John Stanwick and Louise Brooks from NCVER.
A Research Reference Committee has been established to support and advise on research issues and act as a forum for collaborating organisations to raise issues and provide advice on project outcomes, findings and processes. It includes representatives from all collaborating organisations, as well as Dr John Spierings of the Dusseldorp Skills Forum as an independent expert adviser.
