Objective overeducation and worker well-being: a shadow price approach

Dieter Verhaest and Eddy Omey

Working Papers of Faculty of Economics and Business Administration, Ghent University, Belgium from Ghent University, Faculty of Economics and Business Administration

Abstract: This paper examines, for a sample of Flemish school leavers, the relation between objective over-education and job satisfaction by applying a shadow price approach. We differentiate between direct effects of overeducation and indirect effects via other job characteristics that are associated with overeducation. Additional fixed-effects estimates are executed to account for individual heterogeneity. The utility consequences of overeducation are found to be large and cannot be compensated by a reasonable wage increase at the start of the first employment. These outcomes suggest that, at labour market entry, overeducation is largely involuntary, and is likely to induce negative productivity costs. The negative consequences of overeducation are also found to dimi-nish with years of work experience.

Keywords: overeducation; mismatch; underemployment; job satisfaction; well-being; shadow price (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 J28 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 32 pages
Date: 2008-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hap, nep-hrm and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

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Related works:
Journal Article: Objective over-education and worker well-being: A shadow price approach (2009)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:rug:rugwps:08/514

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