This paper assesses how far the products of education are utilized in the British labour market, and how utilization has recently changed. We distinguish the concepts of "under-education", "over-education" and "qualification inflation". Using data from four surveys we find that over-education, while substantial, has been stable since the mid-1980s. Although observed over-education is partly associated with low ability compared with one's educational peers, both over-education and skill under-utilization are also associated with mismatch in the labour market, and both involve a loss of wages. We conclude that, in order to inform policy, education and skill utilization should be closely monitored. Copyright 2002 by Blackwell Publishers Ltd and The Victoria University of Manchester
Download Info
To download:
If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the
proper application to
view it first. Information about this may be contained
in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read
the IDEAS help
page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS
site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version under "Related research" (further below) or search for a different version of it.
Publisher Info
Article provided by University of Manchester in its journal Manchester School.
Volume (Year): 70 (2002) Issue (Month): 6 (December) Pages: 792-811 Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML
(with abstract),
plain text
(with abstract),
BibTeX,
RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite),
ReDIF
For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Christopher F. Baum).
Related research
Keywords:
Cited by: (explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)