Overeducation at a Glance: Determinants and Wage Effects of the Educational Mismatch, Looking at the AlmaLaurea Data

Floro Caroleo () and Francesco Pastore

No 7788, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This paper provides the first available evidence on overeducation/overskilling based on AlmaLaurea data. We focus on jobs held 5 years after graduation by pre-reform graduates in 2005. Overeducation/overskilling are relatively high – at 11.4 and 8% – when compared to EU economies. Ceteris paribus they tend to be more frequent among children of parents with lower educational levels, through school tracking. Most arts degrees and social sciences, but also Geology and Biology are associated to both types of the educational mismatch. The quality of education is also a factor, suggesting that in addition to the low demand for skills, one should also reckon the inability of the educational system to provide work-related skills. Moreover, we find a non-conditional wage penalty of 20% and 16% and a conditional one of about 12% and of 7%, respectively. Heckit returns a sample selection corrected penalty slightly higher, supporting not only the job competition and job assignment models, but also the human capital model.

Keywords: university-to-work transition; overeducation; overskilling; sample selection bias; AlmaLaurea; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 C26 C33 I2 J13 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2013-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-edu, nep-hrm, nep-lab and nep-lma
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (24)

Published - published in: Social Indicators Research, 2018, 137 (3): 999-1032.

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Related works:
Working Paper: Overeducation at a glance. Determinants and wage effects of the educational mismatch, looking at the AlmaLaurea data (2014)
Working Paper: Overeducation at a glance. Determinants and wage effects of the educational mismatch, looking at the AlmaLaurea data (2012)
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