Horizontal stratification of universities and precariousness of graduates working conditions

The global massification of higher education has led to a significant increase in the number of university graduates entering the labor market. This expansion has also driven to greater segmentation of higher education institutions in terms of prestige, quality, and students’ background. Previous research focused predominantly on the relationship between institutional stratification and graduates’ salaries, often overlooking other key dimensions of their working conditions. This study analyzes how the horizontal stratification of Chilean universities relates to graduates’ working conditions. This objective was achieved by constructing profiles of working conditions based on graduates' salaries, hiring regimes, and working hours. Latent Class Analysis was used to identify three distinct profiles. By analyzing data from a survey conducted at eleven Chilean universities, the association between graduates’ characteristics and working conditions was estimated using an ordinal logistic model. The results show that despite holding a university degree, 13 % of graduates work under precarious conditions including part-time jobs or employment contracts that do not guarantee labor rights. While institutional selectivity facilitates access to the most favorable working conditions, its importance diminishes for other types of jobs. Horizontal stratification, therefore, acts as a mechanism of exclusion, limiting access to high-quality employment for graduates from low selective institutions. These findings suggest that the relationship between horizontal stratification and working conditions is complex as it extends beyond a simple replication of institutional hierarchies in the labor market.