Offre éducative, valorisation des diplômes et effets de composition : deux générations de sortants de l'université au tournant des années 2000

This article aims to assess the impact of recent developments in the supply of higher education ? the creation of professional licenses and the implementation of the LMD ? on the employability of university graduates. These two reforms increase the number of diplomas available in higher education and expand opportunities to apply for a higher level of diploma than before. As a consequence, characteristics of graduates in terms of social background, and educational and geographic origins are modified. The individual data from Céreq?s surveys Generation 1998 and Generation 2004 matched with exhaustive data files about university participants allow us to show that these developments have affected the wage situation of graduates. Indeed, characteristics related to the average composition of graduates for each diploma influence the individual wage. Moreover, these compositional characteristics of graduates seem to be more highly considered in the latest generation because of the supposedly employers? lack of information on expected skills and competencies provided by new degrees. Their influence indirectly translates into the reduction of the wage returns to diplomas once the compositional variables are taken into account. In this regard, the decrease in the wage returns to diplomas suggests that components of sorting related to the abilities of graduates come into play in the assessment of individual titles on the market, especially for diplomas affected by institutional reforms.