Working lives: Trade and bachelor graduates ten years on

This publication is an executive summary commissioned by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, a partner organisation in the ARC Linkage study 2006 - 2009 (LP0667939). The aim of the study was to investigate the work, skill and benefit (WSB) trajectories experienced over ten years of working life by skilled workers who completed their initial trade and bachelor degree qualifications at RMIT between 1994 and 1996. The project has significance for theory and policy development in relation to the retention of skilled workers, career advice to youth and lifelong learning provisions in educational and work related disciplines. The results of the study documented the influence that family and peers have on early career decisions, the factors which impact on individuals when changing jobs, the notion that workers perceive employment benefit as more that monetary consideration alone, the differential patterns that exist between trade and higher education graduates in terms of salary, promotion and further career education opportunities and the imbalance between males and females in trade and bachelor degree courses. The findings of this study have implications not only for education and skill provision, but also, for broader workforce reform and business partnerships. The work has been presented at the DEECD Research Partnership Forum in 2009, in the DEECD magazine Shine (2010), at two AARE conferences (2007 and 2010) and has been published in the UK Journal of Work and Education (2009).