I am sure you know about demand and supply. If the demand for highly-skilled labour is high, then I am sure you can easily find a job. In truth, I think it's the opposite in many countries. In addition, the definition of skilled labour is vague. Does one who has more work experience qualify as a skilled labour compared to a PhD fresh graduate in the job industry? I am sure most would agree work experience is still more important than your PhD degree.

In my opinion, most companies are seeking cheap and experienced labour. If degree holders can do what Masters, PhD can do in their line of job, should I hire someone who is overqualified and pay him more just because he has a PhD but has very few years of work experience?

Furthermore, climbing up the education ladder is an opportunity cost. You are giving up working experience which is highly sought after in the industry for education.

I would say, doing postgraduate will not guarantee you better income neither would it guarantee you a PR (well, nothing is guaranteed in life). In fact, you overqualify for many types of jobs and PR are highly dependent on the specific country's conditions.

If you put yourself in the employers shoe, here are a few reasons that I could think of that could lead to why they will not choose a PhD graduate although he/she are willing to down to the basic fresh graduate salary.

1. How long do you think this PhD graduate will be happy with his basic salary? They spent additional 5-6 years studying and no working experience he/she might start asking for increment very quickly because he/she thinks they deserve it. This statement is in support that you mentioned articles saying employers are afraid to hire PhD graduates because they may feel discontent very quickly.

2. What makes a PhD graduate so special that I couldn't just hire a normal graduate who are much younger, energetic and could be mold much faster than a PhD graduate who has similarly no experience, but is almost in his early thirties?

As a PhD holder you are known to be very specialised in specific fields. Obviously, you are not limited to the academic line, but where else could you apply your specialisation considering there are very limited jobs that require such specialisation? Even in the academic line itself would be difficult to get a job.

Personally I do not think higher qualification = better job prospect.