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Overeducation and Ethnic Minorities in Britain

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  • Battu, Harminder

    () (University of Aberdeen)

  • Sloane, Peter J.

    () (Swansea University)

Abstract

This study examines the utilisation of education across ethnic minorities in the UK. In particular, we examine the incidence of mismatch between educational qualifications and occupational attainment, the determinants of any mismatch and the consequences for earnings and other labour market outcomes. Using a modal measure of required education across sixty occupations we find that different ethnic groups have varying levels of over-education with the highest incidence being amongst the Indian and Africa-Asian groups. When we introduce controls we find that the African-Asians are more likely to be both over and under-educated relative to Indians (the omitted group), but this is reversed for those born in the UK. Foreign qualifications increase the likelihood of over-education for Pakistanis and Bangladeshis but reduce it for African-Asians. Language fluency increases the likelihood of mismatch. The results from our earnings regressions support previous work in relation to the returns to over, required and under-education, though with differences between native and immigrant non-whites.

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Bibliographic Info

Paper provided by Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in its series IZA Discussion Papers with number 650.

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Length: 36 pages
Date of creation: Nov 2002
Date of revision:
Publication status: published in: Manchester School, 2004, 72 (4), 535-559
Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp650

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Keywords: mismatch; educational qualifications; ethnic minorities; earnings;

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References

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  1. Edin, Per-Anders & Fredriksson, Peter & Åslund, Olof, 2000. "Ethnic enclaves and the economic success of immigrants - evidence from a natural experiment," Working Paper Series 2000:9, IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy.
  2. Dustmann, Christian & Fabbri, Francesca, 2000. "Language Proficiency and Labour Market Performance of Immigrants in the UK," IZA Discussion Papers 156, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  3. Hartog, Joop, 2000. "Over-education and earnings: where are we, where should we go?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 131-147, April.
  4. Duncan, Greg J. & Hoffman, Saul D., 1981. "The incidence and wage effects of overeducation," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 1(1), pages 75-86, February.
  5. Michael A Shields & Stephen Wheatley Price, . "The English Language Fluency and Occupational Success of Ethnic Minority Immigrant Men Living in English Metropolitan Areas," Discussion Papers in Public Sector Economics 99/4, Department of Economics, University of Leicester.
  6. Nachum Sicherman, 1987. "Over-Education in the Labor Market," University of Chicago - George G. Stigler Center for Study of Economy and State 48, Chicago - Center for Study of Economy and State.
  7. Blackaby, David, et al, 1999. "Unemployment among Britain's Ethnic Minorities," Manchester School, University of Manchester, vol. 67(1), pages 1-20, January.
  8. P. J. Sloane & H. Battu & P. T. Seaman, 1999. "Overeducation, undereducation and the British labour market," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 31(11), pages 1437-1453.
  9. Leslie, Derek & Drinkwater, Stephen, 1999. "Staying on in Full-Time Education: Reasons for Higher Participation Rates among Ethnic Minority Males and Females," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 66(261), pages 63-77, February.
  10. Sattinger, Michael, 1993. "Assignment Models of the Distribution of Earnings," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 831-80, June.
  11. Kiker, B. F. & Santos, Maria C. & de Oliveira, M. Mendes, 1997. "Overeducation and undereducation: Evidence for Portugal," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 111-125, April.
  12. Steven Raphael & Michael A. Stoll, 2000. "Can Boosting Minority Car-Ownership Rates Narrow Inter-Racial Employment Gaps," JCPR Working Papers 200, Northwestern University/University of Chicago Joint Center for Poverty Research.
  13. Chiswick, Barry R & Miller, Paul W, 1995. "The Endogeneity between Language and Earnings: International Analyses," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(2), pages 246-88, April.
  14. Lindley, Joanne, 2002. "The English Language Fluency and Earnings of Ethnic Minorities in Britain," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 49(4), pages 467-87, September.
  15. Stewart, Mark B, 1982. "On Least Squares Estimation when the Dependent Variable is Grouped," The Warwick Economics Research Paper Series (TWERPS) 207, University of Warwick, Department of Economics.
  16. McCormick, Barry, 1986. "Employment Opportunities, Earnings, and the Journey to Work of Minority Workers in Great Britain," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 96(382), pages 375-97, June.
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Citations

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Cited by:
  1. Green, Colin & Kler, Parvinder & Leeves, Gareth, 2007. "Immigrant overeducation: Evidence from recent arrivals to Australia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 420-432, August.
  2. Matloob Piracha & Massimiliano Tani & Florin Vadean, 2010. "Immigrant Over- and Under-education: The Role of Home Country Labour Market Experience," CEIS Research Paper 175, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 09 Dec 2010.
  3. Lindley, Joanne, 2009. "The over-education of UK immigrants and minority ethnic groups: Evidence from the Labour Force Survey," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 80-89, February.
  4. Lubomira Anastassova, 2010. "Are Immigrants Paid Less for Education?," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp406, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economic Institute, Prague.
  5. Blázquez Cuesta, Maite & Rendon, Silvio, 2007. "Over-Education in Multilingual Economies: Evidence from Catalonia," IZA Discussion Papers 3061, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  6. Tani, Massimiliano, 2012. "Does Immigration Policy Affect the Education-Occupation Mismatch? Evidence from Australia," IZA Discussion Papers 6937, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  7. Robert Elliott & Joanne Kathryn Lindley, 2006. "Immigrant Wage Differentials, Ethnicity and Occupational Clustering," Working Papers 2006008, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised May 2006.
  8. Joanne Kathryn Lindley & Pamela Lenton, 2006. "The Over-Education of UK Immigrants: Evidence from the Labour Force Survey," Working Papers 2006001, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2006.
  9. Ingrid Linsley, 2005. "Overeducation in the Australian Labour Market : Its Incidence and Effects," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 939, The University of Melbourne.
  10. Jones, Melanie K. & Sloane, Peter J., 2009. "Disability and Skill Mismatch," IZA Discussion Papers 4430, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  11. Piracha, Matloob & Vadean, Florin, 2012. "Migrant Educational Mismatch and the Labour Market," IZA Discussion Papers 6414, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  12. Joanne Lindley & Steven McIntosh, 2008. "A Panel Data Analysis of the Incidence and Impact of Over-education," Working Papers 2008009, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised Jul 2008.
  13. Shirley Dex & Jo Lindley, 2007. "Labour market job matching for UK minority ethnic groups," Working Papers 2007003, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2007.
  14. Mancinelli, Susanna & Mazzanti, Massimiliano & Piva, Nora & Ponti, Giovanni, 2010. "Education, reputation or network? Evidence on migrant workers employability," The Journal of Socio-Economics, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 64-71, January.
  15. Chan, Gavin & Heaton, Christopher & Tani, Massimiliano, 2012. "The Wage Premium of Foreign Education: New Evidence from Australia," IZA Discussion Papers 6578, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  16. Belfield, Clive, 2010. "Over-education: What influence does the workplace have?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(2), pages 236-245, April.
  17. Chantal Nielsen, 2011. "Immigrant over-education: evidence from Denmark," Journal of Population Economics, Springer, vol. 24(2), pages 499-520, April.

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