IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/izamig/v5y2016i1d10.1186_s40176-016-0066-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Skill composition of immigration flows and the measurement of education-occupation mismatch

Author

Listed:
  • Jacques Poot

    (University of Waikato
    IZA-Institute for the Study of Labor)

  • Steven Stillman

    (Free University of Bozen-Bolzano
    IZA-Institute for the Study of Labor)

Abstract

Recent papers have found that often immigrants are overqualified relative to native-born workers when comparing an individual’s education to the ‘average’ education in their occupation. We show that these results are sensitive to differences in the education distribution between immigrants and the native born. Using data for New Zealand, which has an immigration policy that favours skilled immigrants, we find that this approach leads one to conclude that immigrants are, on average, overqualified for their occupation. However, once we account for the fact that immigrants are on average more skilled than natives, we find that immigrants are, in fact, less overeducated than natives. JEL classification: F22, J21, J61

Suggested Citation

  • Jacques Poot & Steven Stillman, 2016. "Skill composition of immigration flows and the measurement of education-occupation mismatch," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-28, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:izamig:v:5:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1186_s40176-016-0066-y
    DOI: 10.1186/s40176-016-0066-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1186/s40176-016-0066-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1186/s40176-016-0066-y?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Cristina Fernández & Carolina Ortega, 2008. "Labor market assimilation of immigrants in Spain: employment at the expense of bad job-matches?," Spanish Economic Review, Springer;Spanish Economic Association, vol. 10(2), pages 83-107, June.
    2. 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.
    3. Chiswick, Barry R. & Miller, Paul W., 2008. "Why is the payoff to schooling smaller for immigrants?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 15(6), pages 1317-1340, December.
    4. Anna Maria Mayda, 2006. "Who Is Against Immigration? A Cross-Country Investigation of Individual Attitudes toward Immigrants," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 88(3), pages 510-530, August.
    5. Séamus McGuinness, 2006. "Overeducation in the Labour Market," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 20(3), pages 387-418, July.
    6. Lewis Evans & Arthur Grimes & Bryce Wilkinson, 1996. "Economic Reform in New Zealand 1984-95: The Pursuit of Efficiency," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 34(4), pages 1856-1902, December.
    7. Winkelmann, Rainer, 2000. "Immigration Policies and their Impact: The Case of New Zealand and Australia," IZA Discussion Papers 169, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Barro, Robert J & Lee, Jong-Wha, 2001. "International Data on Educational Attainment: Updates and Implications," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 541-563, July.
    9. O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), 1999. "Handbook of Labor Economics," Handbook of Labor Economics, Elsevier, edition 1, volume 3, number 3.
    10. 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.
    11. Raul Ramos & Jordi Surinach & Manuel Art�s, 2012. "Regional Economic Growth and Human Capital: The Role of Over-education," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(10), pages 1389-1400, November.
    12. Carlo Dell'Aringa & Laura Pagani, 2011. "Labour Market Assimilation and Over-Education: The Case of Immigrant Workers in Italy," Economia politica, Società editrice il Mulino, issue 2, pages 219-240.
    13. Aleksynska, Mariya & Tritah, Ahmed, 2013. "Occupation–education mismatch of immigrant workers in Europe: Context and policies," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 36(C), pages 229-244.
    14. Esteve Sanromá & Raúl Ramos & Hipólito Simón, 2015. "Portability of Human Capital and Immigrant Overeducation in Spain," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 34(2), pages 223-241, April.
    15. 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.
    16. Steven Wald & Tony Fang, 2008. "Overeducated Immigrants in the Canadian Labour Market: Evidence from the Workplace and Employee Survey," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 34(4), pages 457-480, December.
    17. Chiswick, Barry R. & Miller, Paul W., 2009. "The international transferability of immigrants' human capital," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(2), pages 162-169, April.
    18. Rubb, Stephen, 2003. "Overeducation: a short or long run phenomenon for individuals?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 389-394, August.
    19. Papps, Kerry L. & Newell, James O., 2002. "Identifying Functional Labour Market Areas in New Zealand: A Reconnaissance Study Using Travel-to-Work Data," IZA Discussion Papers 443, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Samuel Vézina & Alain Bélanger, 2019. "Impacts of education and immigration on the size and skills of the future workforce," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 41(12), pages 331-366.
    2. Smith, Christie & Thoenissen, Christoph, 2019. "Skilled migration and business cycle dynamics," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    3. Omoniyi B. Alimi & David C. Mare & Jacques Poot, 2022. "Immigration, skills and changing urban income inequality in New Zealand," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 25(1), pages 81-109.
    4. Alimi, Omoniyi & Maré, David C. & Poot, Jacques, 2018. "International Migration and the Distribution of Income in New Zealand Metropolitan and Non-Metropolitan Areas," IZA Discussion Papers 11959, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Eric Schuss, 2020. "Do Ethnic Networks Ameliorate Education–Occupation Mismatch?," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 34(4), pages 441-476, December.

    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. Schwientek, Caroline, 2016. "Are immigrants overeducated in Germany? Determinants and wage effects of educational mismatch," FAU Discussion Papers in Economics 07/2016, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Institute for Economics.
    2. V. Jacobs & F. Rycx & M. Volral, 2022. "Wage Effects of Educational Mismatch According to Workers’ Origin: The Role of Demographics and Firm Characteristics," De Economist, Springer, vol. 170(4), pages 459-501, November.
    3. Nieto, Sandra & Matano, Alessia & Ramos, Raul, 2013. "Skill Mismatches in the EU: Immigrants vs. Natives," IZA Discussion Papers 7701, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Poot, Jacques & Stillman, Steven, 2010. "The Importance of Heterogeneity When Examining Immigrant Education-Occupation Mismatch: Evidence from New Zealand," IZA Discussion Papers 5211, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Valentine Jacobs, 2021. "Wage Effects of Educational Mismatch According to Workers’ Origin: The Role of Demographics and Firm Characteristics," DULBEA Working Papers 23562, ULB -- Universite Libre de Bruxelles.
    6. Julia Beckhusen & Raymond J.G.M. Florax & Jacques Poot & Brigitte S. Waldorf, 2013. "Attracting Global Talent And Then What? Overeducated Immigrants In The United States," Journal of Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(5), pages 834-854, December.
    7. Sholeh A. Maani & Le Wen, 2021. "Over-education and immigrant earnings: a penalized quantile panel regression analysis," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 53(24), pages 2771-2790, May.
    8. Pernilla Joona & Nabanita Gupta & Eskil Wadensjö, 2014. "Overeducation among immigrants in Sweden: incidence, wage effects and state dependence," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 3(1), pages 1-23, December.
    9. Jacobs, Valentine & Mahy, Benoît & Rycx, François & Volral, Mélanie, 2019. "The Heterogeneous Effects of Workers' Countries of Birth on Over-Education," IZA Discussion Papers 12705, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    10. Jhon James Mora & Maribel Castillo Caicedo & Gustavo Adolfo Gómez, 2022. "Migration and Overeducation of Venezuelans in the Colombian Labor Market," The Indian Journal of Labour Economics, Springer;The Indian Society of Labour Economics (ISLE), vol. 65(2), pages 503-517, June.
    11. Eleni Kalfa & Matloob Piracha, 2017. "Immigrants’ educational mismatch and the penalty of over-education," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 25(5), pages 462-481, September.
    12. Matloob Piracha & Florin Vadean, 2013. "Migrant educational mismatch and the labor market," Chapters, in: Amelie F. Constant & Klaus F. Zimmermann (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Migration, chapter 9, pages 176-192, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    13. Esteve Sanromá & Raúl Ramos & Hipólito Simón, 2015. "Portability of Human Capital and Immigrant Overeducation in Spain," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 34(2), pages 223-241, April.
    14. Philippe Wanner & Marco Pecoraro & Massimiliano Tani, 2021. "Does Educational Mismatch Affect Emigration Behaviour?," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 37(4), pages 959-995, November.
    15. Barbara Ermini & Luca Papi & Francesca Scaturro, 2017. "An Analysis of the Determinants of Over-Education Among Italian Ph.D Graduates," Italian Economic Journal: A Continuation of Rivista Italiana degli Economisti and Giornale degli Economisti, Springer;Società Italiana degli Economisti (Italian Economic Association), vol. 3(2), pages 167-207, July.
    16. Matloob Piracha & Massimiliano Tani & Florin Vadean, 2012. "Immigrant over- and under-education: the role of home country labour market experience," IZA Journal of Migration and Development, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 1(1), pages 1-21, December.
    17. Valentine Jacobs & Kevin Pineda-Hernández & François Rycx & Mélanie Volral, 2023. "Does over-education raise productivity and wages equally? The moderating role of workers’ origin and immigrants’ background," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(6), pages 698-724, November.
    18. Barbara Ermini & Luca Papi & Francesca Scaturro, 2016. "Over-education among italian Ph.D. graduates. Does the crisis make a difference?," Mo.Fi.R. Working Papers 126, Money and Finance Research group (Mo.Fi.R.) - Univ. Politecnica Marche - Dept. Economic and Social Sciences.
    19. Massimiliano Tani, 2021. "Occupational Licensing and the Skills Mismatch of Highly Educated Migrants," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(3), pages 730-756, September.
    20. Tani, Massimiliano, 2018. "Selective immigration policies, occupational licensing, and the quality of migrants’ education-occupation match," GLO Discussion Paper Series 206, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Immigration; Occupation; Skill transferability; Job-worker mismatch; Discrimination; New Zealand;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
    • J21 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure
    • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

    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:spr:izamig:v:5:y:2016:i:1:d:10.1186_s40176-016-0066-y. 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: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    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.