The Career Prospects of Overeducated Americans

Brian Clark, Clément Joubert () and Arnaud Maurel

No 20167, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: In this paper we analyze career dynamics for the large share of U.S. workers who have more schooling than their peers in the same occupation. We use data from the NLSY79 combined with the CPS to analyze transitions into and out of overeducated employment, together with the corresponding effects on wages. Overeducation is a fairly persistent phenomenon at the aggregate and individual levels, with 66% of workers remaining overeducated after one year. Overeducation is not only more common, but also more persistent among blacks and low-AFQT individuals. Further, the hazard rate out of overeducation drops by about 60% during the first 5 years spent overeducated. However, the estimation of a mixed proportional hazard model suggests that this is attributable to selection on unobservables rather than true duration dependence. Finally, overeducation is associated with lower current as well as future wages, which points to the existence of scarring effects.

JEL-codes: J24 J31 J62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-lab and nep-lma
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (14)

Published as Brian Clark & Clément Joubert & Arnaud Maurel, 2017. "The career prospects of overeducated Americans," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, vol 6(1).

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Related works:
Journal Article: The career prospects of overeducated Americans (2017)
Working Paper: The Career Prospects of Overeducated Americans (2014)
Working Paper: Career Prospects of Overeducated Americans (2014)
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