IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v250y2025ics0165176525001156.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Output costs of education and skill mismatch in OECD countries

Author

Listed:
  • Garibaldi, Pietro
  • Gomes, Pedro
  • Sopraseuth, Thepthida

Abstract

We quantify the output costs of education and skills mismatch for 17 OECD economies, using a calibrated model of vertical mismatch. Eliminating the frictions generating mismatch would raise output by 3% to 4% on average, varying between 0.5% to 9% across countries. Although the education and skill mismatch measures are constructed using different methods and differ in size, the output costs are similar between the two measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Garibaldi, Pietro & Gomes, Pedro & Sopraseuth, Thepthida, 2025. "Output costs of education and skill mismatch in OECD countries," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 250(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:250:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525001156
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112278
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176525001156
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112278?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Regis Barnichon & Yanos Zylberberg, 2019. "Underemployment and the Trickle-Down of Unemployment," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 40-78, April.
    2. Hanushek, Eric A. & Schwerdt, Guido & Wiederhold, Simon & Woessmann, Ludger, 2015. "Returns to skills around the world: Evidence from PIAAC," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 73(C), pages 103-130.
    3. Sara Flisi & Valentina Goglio & Elena Claudia Meroni & Margarida Rodrigues & Esperanza Vera-Toscano, 2017. "Measuring Occupational Mismatch: Overeducation and Overskill in Europe—Evidence from PIAAC," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 131(3), pages 1211-1249, April.
    4. Garibaldi, Pietro & Gomes, Pedro & Sopraseuth, Thepthida, 2021. "Public employment redux," Journal of Government and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 1(C).
    5. Glenda Quintini, 2011. "Right for the Job: Over-Qualified or Under-Skilled?," OECD Social, Employment and Migration Working Papers 120, OECD Publishing.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Garibaldi, Pietro & Gomes, Pedro Maia & Sopraseuth, Thepthida, 2020. "Output Costs of Education and Skill Mismatch," IZA Discussion Papers 12974, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Jackson, Paul, 2023. "Equilibrium underemployment," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    3. Nakamura, Hideki, 2023. "Difficulties in finding middle-skilled jobs under increased automation," Macroeconomic Dynamics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 27(5), pages 1179-1201, July.
    4. Kracke, Nancy & Reichelt, Malte & Vicari, Basha, 2017. "Wage losses due to overqualification: The role of formal degrees and occupational skills," IAB-Discussion Paper 201710, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    5. Müge Adalet McGowan & Dan Andrews, 2015. "Skill Mismatch and Public Policy in OECD Countries," OECD Economics Department Working Papers 1210, OECD Publishing.
    6. Nancy Kracke & Malte Reichelt & Basha Vicari, 2018. "Wage Losses Due to Overqualification: The Role of Formal Degrees and Occupational Skills," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 139(3), pages 1085-1108, October.
    7. Meroni, Elena Claudia & Vera-Toscano, Esperanza, 2017. "The persistence of overeducation among recent graduates," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 120-143.
    8. Maite Bl'azquez Cuesta & Marco A. P'erez Navarro & Roc'io S'anchez-Mangas, 2024. "Overeducation under different macroeconomic conditions: The case of Spanish university graduates," Papers 2407.04437, arXiv.org.
    9. Nancy Kracke & Margarida Rodrigues, 2020. "A Task-Based Indicator for Labour Market Mismatch," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 149(2), pages 399-421, June.
    10. Esperanza Vera-Toscano & Elena Claudia Meroni, 2016. "A descriptive analysis of the evolution of occupational mismatch in Europe," JRC Research Reports JRC103228, Joint Research Centre.
    11. Tommaso AGASISTI & Geraint JOHNES & Marco PACCAGNELLA, 2021. "Tasks, occupations and wages in OECD countries," International Labour Review, International Labour Organization, vol. 160(1), pages 85-112, March.
    12. Clarke, Andrew & Skuterud, Mikal, 2014. "Immigrant Skill Selection and Utilization: A Comparative Analysis of Australia, Canada, and the United States," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2014-41, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 22 Sep 2014.
    13. Marco Pecoraro, 2014. "Is There Still a Wage Penalty for Being Overeducated But Well-matched in Skills? A Panel Data Analysis of a Swiss Graduate Cohort," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 28(3), pages 309-337, September.
    14. Zia Ullah & Esra AlDhaen & Rana Tahir Naveed & Naveed Ahmad & Miklas Scholz & Tasawar Abdul Hamid & Heesup Han, 2021. "Towards Making an Invisible Diversity Visible: A Study of Socially Structured Barriers for Purple Collar Employees in the Workplace," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    15. Asadullah, M. Niaz & Xiao, Saizi, 2020. "The changing pattern of wage returns to education in post-reform China," Structural Change and Economic Dynamics, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 137-148.
    16. Jun Wang & Chengjuan Liao & Xuan Wan & Hui Song, 2021. "Skill Formation, Employment Discrimination, and Wage Inequality: Evidence from the People’s Republic of China," ADBI Working Papers 1283, Asian Development Bank Institute.
    17. Görlitz, Katja & Penny, Merlin & Tamm, Marcus, 2022. "The long-term effect of age at school entry on cognitive competencies in adulthood," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 194(C), pages 91-104.
    18. Barrett, Garry F. & Riddell, W. Craig, 2019. "Ageing and Skills: The Case of Literacy Skills," IZA Discussion Papers 12073, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Stijn Broecke & Glenda Quintini & Marieke Vandeweyer, 2018. "Wage Inequality and Cognitive Skills: Reopening the Debate," NBER Chapters, in: Education, Skills, and Technical Change: Implications for Future US GDP Growth, pages 251-286, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Goel, Deepti & Barooah, Bidisha, 2018. "Drivers of Student Performance: Evidence from Higher Secondary Public Schools in Delhi," GLO Discussion Paper Series 231, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:250:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525001156. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.