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Overeducation among Immigrants in Sweden: Incidence, Wage Effects and State-dependence

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Abstract

The utilization and reward of the human capital of immigrants in the labor market of the host country has been studied extensively. In the Swedish context this question is of great policy relevance due to the high levels of refugee migration and inflow of tied movers. Using Swedish register data covering the period 2001–2008, we analyze the incidence and wage effects of overeducation among non-Western immigrants. We also analyze whether there is state-dependence in overeducation and extend the immigrant educational mismatch literature by investigating whether this is a more severe problem among immigrants than among natives. In line with previous research we find that the incidence of overeducation is higher among immigrants and the return to overeducation is lower indicating that immigrants lose more from being overeducated. We find a high degree of state-dependence in overeducation both among natives and immigrants, but to a higher extent among immigrants.

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Paper provided by Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS in its series SULCIS Working Papers with number 2012:2.

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Length: 40 pages
Date of creation: 03 Jul 2012
Handle: RePEc:hhs:sulcis:2012_002
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Stockholm University Linnaeus Center for Integration Studies - SULCIS, Stockholm University, S-10691 Stockholm, Sweden

Web page: http://www.su.se/sulcis

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Keywords: educational mismatch; immigrants; wages; state-dependence;

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
  • F22 - International Economics - - International Factor Movements and International Business - - - International Migration
  • 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
  • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
  • J61 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Geographic Labor Mobility; Immigrant Workers

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Cited by:

  1. Orbay, Benan & Aydede, Yigit, 2015. "Educational mismatch and the cost of underutilization in Turkish labour markets," MPRA Paper 65713, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  2. Stefan Jestl & Michael Landesmann & Sandra M. Leitner, 2015. "Migrants and Natives in EU Labour Markets: Mobility and Job-Skill Mismatch Patterns," wiiw Research Reports 403, The Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies, wiiw.
  3. de la Rica, Sara & Glitz, Albrecht & Ortega, Francesc, 2013. "Immigration in Europe: Trends, Policies and Empirical Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 7778, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  4. Aydede, Yigit & Dar, Atul A., 2015. "The Cost of Vertical Mismatch in Canadian Labour Markets: How Big is It?," CLSSRN working papers clsrn_admin-2015-13, Vancouver School of Economics, revised 07 Jul 2015.
  5. Stefano Visintin & Kea Tijdens & Maarten van Klaveren, 2015. "Skill mismatch among migrant workers: evidence from a large multi-country dataset," IZA Journal of Migration, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-34, December.
  6. Maryna Tverdostup & Jaan Masso, 2016. "The labour market performance of young return migrants after the crisis in CEE countries: the case of Estonia," Baltic Journal of Economics, Baltic International Centre for Economic Policy Studies, vol. 16(2), pages 192-220.
  7. Kalfa, Eleni & Piracha, Matloob, 2015. "Social Networks and the Labour Market Mismatch," IZA Discussion Papers 9493, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
  8. 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.
  9. Seamus McGuinness & Delma Byrne, 2015. "Born abroad and educated here: examining the impacts of education and skill mismatch among immigrant graduates in Europe," IZA Journal of Migration, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 4(1), pages 1-30, December.
  10. Boll, Christina & Leppin, Julian Sebastian, 2013. "Unterwertige Beschäftigung von Akademikerinnen und Akademikern: Umfang, Ursachen, Einkommenseffekte und Beitrag zur geschlechtsspezifischen Lohnlücke," HWWI Policy Papers 75, Hamburg Institute of International Economics (HWWI).
  11. Dunlavy, A.C. & Garcy, A.M. & Rostila, M., 2016. "Educational mismatch and health status among foreign-born workers in Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 154(C), pages 36-44.

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