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The impact of major-job mismatch on college graduates' early career earnings: evidence from China

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  • Rong Zhu

Abstract

This paper assesses the impact of the mismatch between a college major and job on college graduates' early career earnings using a sample from China. On average, a major-job mismatched college graduate is found to suffer from an income loss that is much lower than the penalty documented in previous studies. The income losses are also found to be heterogeneous and about one-third of the mismatched college graduates earn more than those matched ones.

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  • Rong Zhu, 2014. "The impact of major-job mismatch on college graduates' early career earnings: evidence from China," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 22(5), pages 511-528, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:22:y:2014:i:5:p:511-528
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2012.659009
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    Cited by:

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    2. Mariana Olga De Santis & María Cecilia Gáname & Pedro Esteban Moncarz, 2022. "The Impact of Overeducation on Wages of Recent Economic Sciences Graduates," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 163(1), pages 409-445, August.
    3. Pregoner, Joseph Dave Mendoza & Castillo, Earl John & Ordaneza, Joan & Noveno, Elizabeth, 2020. "Unveiling the Aftermath of Education-Job Mismatch among UIC Business Administration Graduates," EdArXiv ehskd, Center for Open Science.
    4. Seamus McGuinness & Konstantinos Pouliakas & Paul Redmond, 2018. "Skills Mismatch: Concepts, Measurement And Policy Approaches," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 32(4), pages 985-1015, September.
    5. Jiang, Shengjun & Guo, Yilan, 2022. "Reasons for college major-job mismatch and labor market outcomes: Evidence from China," China Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    6. Sun, Ting & Bian, Xuezi & Liu, Jianxu & Wang, Rui & Sriboonchitta, Songsak, 2023. "The economic and social effects of skill mismatch in China: A DSGE model with skill and firm heterogeneity," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 125(C).
    7. Aepli, Manuel, 2019. "Technological change and occupation mobility: A task-based approach to horizontal mismatch," GLO Discussion Paper Series 361, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Pater, Robert & Szkola, Jaroslaw & Kozak, Marcin, 2019. "A method for measuring detailed demand for workers' competences," Economics - The Open-Access, Open-Assessment E-Journal (2007-2020), Kiel Institute for the World Economy (IfW Kiel), vol. 13, pages 1-30.
    9. Sung-Tae Lee & Sun-Moon Jung, 2023. "Is Your Degree Worth It? Education-Job Transferability and Job Satisfaction of ICT Workers," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, November.
    10. Wenjing Li & Xuhui Wang & Md Jamirul Haque & Muhammad Noman Shafique & Muhammad Zahid Nawaz, 2020. "Impact of Workforce Diversity Management on Employees’ Outcomes: Testing the Mediating Role of a person’s Job Match," SAGE Open, , vol. 10(1), pages 21582440209, January.

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