IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/zbw/espost/313713.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Under- or overexpansion of education? Trends in qualification mismatch in the United Kingdom and Germany, 1984-2017

Author

Listed:
  • Wiedner, Jonas

Abstract

Prominent theoretical positions in sociology and labor economics disagree whether educational expansion has outstripped the demand for qualified labor (overexpansion), or whether economies face a skill shortage despite increases in education (underexpansion). Focusing on the United Kingdom and West Germany, two countries with dissimilar skill formation institutions, patterns of expansion, and labor markets, this paper asks to what degree expansion of education has been absorbed. I point out shortcomings of wage-centered analyses and develop an approach that focuses on trends in self-assessed over- and underqualification. Using repeated surveys among workers and official labor market statistics, I estimate regression models that link the cohort-level expansion of education to the cohort-level prevalence of mismatch. Results suggest overexpansion in the United Kingdom, with overqualification increasing and underqualification decreasing over historical times and cohorts. West Germany, on the other hand, shows signs of underexpansion. While dominant theoretical accounts focus on the under-/overexpansion of tertiary education, my results show that mismatch-dynamics in both contexts are strongest for workers without university degrees.

Suggested Citation

  • Wiedner, Jonas, 2024. "Under- or overexpansion of education? Trends in qualification mismatch in the United Kingdom and Germany, 1984-2017," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 117, pages 1-15.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:espost:313713
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/313713/3/Full-text-article-Wiedner-Under-or-overexpansion.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bernd Fitzenberger & Karsten Kohn & Alexander C. Lembcke, 2013. "Union Density and Varieties of Coverage: The Anatomy of Union Wage Effects in Germany," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 66(1), pages 169-197, January.
    2. Allen, Jim & van der Velden, Rolf, 2001. "Educational Mismatches versus Skill Mismatches: Effects on Wages, Job Satisfaction, and On-the-Job Search," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 434-452, July.
    3. Rossen Anja & Boll Christina & Wolf André, 2019. "Patterns of Overeducation in Europe: The Role of Field of Study," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-48, June.
    4. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The Skill Content of Recent Technological Change: An Empirical Exploration," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(4), pages 1279-1333.
    5. Esping-Andersen, Gosta, 1999. "Social Foundations of Postindustrial Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198742005.
    6. David Card & John E. DiNardo, 2002. "Skill-Biased Technological Change and Rising Wage Inequality: Some Problems and Puzzles," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 20(4), pages 733-783, October.
    7. Rossen Anja & Boll Christina & Wolf André, 2019. "Patterns of Overeducation in Europe: The Role of Field of Study," IZA Journal of Labor Policy, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 9(1), pages 259-278, June.
    8. Giuseppe Croce & Emanuela Ghignoni, 2012. "Demand and Supply of Skilled Labour and Overeducation in Europe: A Country-level Analysis," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 54(2), pages 413-439, June.
    9. Korpi, Tomas & Tåhlin, Michael, 2009. "Educational mismatch, wages, and wage growth: Overeducation in Sweden, 1974-2000," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 183-193, April.
    10. David H. Autor & Frank Levy & Richard J. Murnane, 2003. "The skill content of recent technological change: an empirical exploration," Proceedings, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco, issue nov.
    11. Dong-Hoon Shin & David Bills, 2021. "Trends in Educational and Skill Mismatch in the United States," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-36, October.
    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. Daniela Rohrbach-Schmidt & Michael Tiemann, 2016. "Educational (Mis)match and skill utilization in Germany: Assessing the role of worker and job characteristics [Qualifikatorisches (Mis)matching und die Ausnutzung von fachlichen Kenntnissen und Fäh," Journal for Labour Market Research, Springer;Institute for Employment Research/ Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), vol. 49(2), pages 99-119, October.
    2. Korpi, Tomas & Tåhlin, Michael, 2009. "Educational mismatch, wages, and wage growth: Overeducation in Sweden, 1974-2000," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 16(2), pages 183-193, April.
    3. Green, Francis & Henseke, Golo, 2021. "Europe's evolving graduate labour markets: supply, demand, underemployment and pay," Journal for Labour Market Research, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany], vol. 55, pages 1-2.
    4. Fabián Slonimczyk, 2013. "Earnings inequality and skill mismatch in the U.S.: 1973–2002," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 11(2), pages 163-194, June.
    5. Francesco D. Sandulli & Paul M.A. Baker & José I. López-Sánchez, 2014. "Jobs mismatch and productivity impact of information technology," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 34(13), pages 1060-1074, September.
    6. Navarini, Lorenzo & Verhaest, Dieter, 2024. "Returns to Education and Overeducation Risk: A Dynamic Model," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1456, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    7. Korpi, Tomas & Tåhlin, Michael, 2007. "Educational mismatch, wages, and wage growth: Overeducation in Sweden, 1974-2000," Working Paper Series 10/2007, Stockholm University, Swedish Institute for Social Research.
    8. Mariachiara Barzotto, 2024. "Educational (mis)match in the context of new manufacturing: A qualitative comparative analysis study in five European countries," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(2), pages 2116-2138, April.
    9. David Hémous & Morten Olsen, 2022. "The Rise of the Machines: Automation, Horizontal Innovation, and Income Inequality," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 14(1), pages 179-223, January.
    10. Jiancai Pi & Yanwei Fan, 2022. "Financial frictions and wage inequality," International Journal of Finance & Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(1), pages 1064-1074, January.
    11. Joaquin Turmo-Garuz & M.-Teresa Bartual-Figueras & Francisco-Javier Sierra-Martinez, 2019. "Factors Associated with Overeducation Among Recent Graduates During Labour Market Integration: The Case of Catalonia (Spain)," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 144(3), pages 1273-1301, August.
    12. Marina Bassi & Matías Busso & Sergio Urzúa & Jaime Vargas, 2012. "Disconnected: Skills, Education, and Employment in Latin America," IDB Publications (Books), Inter-American Development Bank, number 79504, February.
    13. Léné, Alexandre, 2011. "Occupational downgrading and bumping down: The combined effects of education and experience," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 257-269, April.
    14. Bruno Funchal & Jandir Soares Junior, 2013. "Understanding demand for skylls after technological trade liberalization," Fucape Working Papers 40, Fucape Business School.
    15. Dirk Antonczyk & Thomas DeLeire & Bernd Fitzenberger, 2018. "Polarization and Rising Wage Inequality: Comparing the U.S. and Germany," Econometrics, MDPI, vol. 6(2), pages 1-33, April.
    16. Kerekes, Monika, 2007. "Analyzing patterns of economic growth: a production frontier approach," Discussion Papers 2007/15, Free University Berlin, School of Business & Economics.
    17. Ferreira, Francisco H. G. & Firpo, Sergio & Messina, Julián, 2017. "Ageing Poorly? Accounting for the Decline in Earnings Inequality in Brazil, 1995-2012," IZA Discussion Papers 10656, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    18. Thiemo Fetzer, 2019. "Did Austerity Cause Brexit?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 109(11), pages 3849-3886, November.
    19. Fabian Eckert & Sharat Ganapati & Conor Walsh, 2020. "Urban-Biased Growth: A Macroeconomic Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 8705, CESifo.
    20. Afonso, Oscar & Bandeira, Ana Maria, 2013. "Effects Of International Diffusion Of A General Purpose Technology On Wage Inequality," Hitotsubashi Journal of Economics, Hitotsubashi University, vol. 54(2), pages 203-220, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    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:zbw:espost:313713. 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: ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/zbwkide.html .

    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.