 The reduction of (a traditionally high) State expenditure allocated to job creation inside the public sector of the Portuguese economy since 2002–2003, in addition to the boom of the number of places offered to new students in those fields by an increasing number of private and public teaching institutions, disrupted supply and demand equilibrium.Higher wages and better job conditions are usually offered by companies to the best fresh graduates of a number of highly reputed universities.Most Portuguese civil servants usually have better-than-average pay and benefits regardless of their personal educational quality.