Was it worth it? An empirical analysis of over-education among PhD recipients in Italy

Giuseppe Gaeta

International Journal of Social Economics, 2015, vol. 42, issue 3, 222-238

Abstract: Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical examination of factors associated with over-education among PhD graduates in Italy. Design/methodology/approach - – The investigation is based on recently released data collected by the Italian National Institute of Statistics by means of interviews with a large sample of PhD recipients, carried out a few years after they obtained their PhD degree. The author measured the mismatch between the current job and previous PhD studies using two direct subjective evaluations of over-education, which distinguish between the usefulness of the PhD title to get the current job position and to perform the current work activities. Even if the incidence of over-education varies according to the measurement applied, the author found that it is highly widespread among PhD recipients. The econometric analyses are aimed at identifying factors associated with over-education and are based on the standard probit model and the bivariate probit model with sample selection which allows to control for self selection into employment. Findings - – The results show that over-education is significantly correlated with: first, a number of PhD-related variables, such as the scientific field of study, having attended courses or visiting periods abroad; second, some job-related characteristics, such as working in the academia or being mainly involved in research-related activities; third, the channel of access to the job; and fourth, residential location. Originality/value - – This paper contributes to the literature focusing on job-education mismatch by providing, to the best of the author’s knowledge, the first empirical analysis of over-education among PhD recipients in Italy; moreover, it provides some useful insights to evaluate the professional doctoral graduates in Italy.

Keywords: Employment; Education (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2015
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (19)

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Working Paper: Was it worth it? An empirical analysis of over-education among Ph.D. recipients in Italy (2013)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eme:ijsepp:v:42:y:2015:i:3:p:222-238

DOI: 10.1108/IJSE-08-2013-0186

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