Abstract

The considerable increase in the number of PhDs in European countries over the last twenty years and the reconfiguration of the role of the doctorate as a tool for training highly-skilled profiles for the labour market have recently highlighted the employment conditions of PhDs. This paper, using the data of the latest survey on the working condition of PhDs in Italy (ISTAT, 2014), examines the factors influencing the satisfaction levels in the labour market of those who obtained the qualification in Italian universities in 2008 and 2010, focusing in particular on regional differences and those attributable to the employment sector. The analysis, carried out with the aid of multivariate analysis techniques, gives an account of the existence of large differentials and working conditions that particularly damage the satisfaction of those employed in Southern regions. Such results confirm the markedly dualistic characteristics of the Italian labour market on the one hand, and on the other hand, offer useful insights to the analysis of the growing regional differences affecting the system of academic training and research.