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Causes of Overeducation in the Australian Labour Market

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Author Info
Ingrid Linsley
Abstract

Overeducation is a form of labour underutilisation which occurs when the formal education level of a worker exceeds that which is required for the job. In Australia close to 30 per cent of workers are overeducated and are underutilising their skills. Using data from the Negotiating the Life Course survey, this study determines the causes of overeducation in Australia. Four of the key theories that have been used to explain overeducation are tested: human capital, job competition, assignment and the career mobility theories. Tests show that the job competition model best explains the existence of overeducation in the Australian labour market.

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File URL: http://www.economics.unimelb.edu.au/SITE/research/workingpapers/wp05/940.pdf
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Paper provided by The University of Melbourne in its series Department of Economics - Working Papers Series with number 940.

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Length: 28 pages
Date of creation: 2005
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Handle: RePEc:mlb:wpaper:940

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Related research
Keywords: Overeducation labour market human capital theory career mobility

Find related papers by JEL classification:
I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, and Vacancies - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion

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References listed on IDEAS
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.:
  1. Hartog, Joop, 1986. "Allocation and the Earnings Function," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 11(2), pages 97-110.
  2. Dolton, Peter & Vignoles, Anna, 2000. "The incidence and effects of overeducation in the U.K. graduate labour market," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 179-198, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. John Robst, 1995. "Career Mobility, Job Match, and Overeducation," Eastern Economic Journal, Eastern Economic Association, vol. 21(4), pages 539-550, Fall. [Downloadable!]
  5. Ingrid Linsley, 2005. "Overeducation in the Australian Labour Market: Its Incidence and Effects," Department of Economics - Working Papers Series 939, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  6. 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. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Mendes de Oliveira, M. & Santos, M. C. & Kiker, B. F., 2000. "The role of human capital and technological change in overeducation," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 199-206, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Frank, Robert H, 1978. "Why Women Earn Less: The Theory and Estimation of Differential Overqualification," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 68(3), pages 360-73, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  9. Sloane, P J & Battu, H & Seaman, P T, 1999. "Overeducation, Undereducation and the British Labour Market," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 31(11), pages 1437-53, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Parvinder Kler, 2005. "Graduate overeducation in Australia: A comparison of the mean and objective methods," Education Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 13(1), pages 47-72, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Groot, Wim, 1996. "The Incidence of, and Returns to Overeducation in the U.K," Applied Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 28(10), pages 1345-50, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Groot, Wim & Maassen van den Brink, Henriette, 2000. "Overeducation in the labor market: a meta-analysis," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 149-158, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Sattinger, Michael, 1993. "Assignment Models of the Distribution of Earnings," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 31(2), pages 831-80, June. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  14. Tsang, Mun C. & Levin, Henry M., 1985. "The economics of overeducation," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 4(2), pages 93-104, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  15. Sicherman, Nachum, 1991. ""Overeducation" in the Labor Market," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 9(2), pages 101-22, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  16. Arnaud Chevalier, 2003. "Measuring Over-education," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 70(279), pages 509-531, 08. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Spence, A Michael, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 87(3), pages 355-74, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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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.)

  1. Seamus McGuinness & Mark Wooden, 2007. "Overskilling, Job Insecurity and Career Mobility: Evidence from Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2007n09, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne. [Downloadable!]
  2. Kostas Mavromaras & Seamus McGuinness & Yin King Fok, 2007. "Assessing the Incidence and Wage Effects of Over-Skilling in the Australian Labour Market," IZA Discussion Papers 2837, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
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