Education-occupation mismatch in Turkish labor market

There is a consensus that one of the most important ingredients for high and sustainable growth is human capital accumulation. Yet, a different strand of literature argues that there are some frictions in the labor markets of most countries that result in possible education-occupation mismatches, and consequently inefficiencies. Despite a significant amount of research using data from advanced economies there are very few studies on developing economies. Considering that human capital is scarce in these countries, whether it is efficiently allocated is arguably relatively more important. This paper using data from two different years examines the incidence of overeducation in Turkey. The findings show that there is a significant amount of over- and undereducated workers, and they are paid significantly less than those with the same level of education but working in jobs that require education levels that match their own. The magnitude of the incidence and the impact of mismatches on wages are, however, not too different than in most developed economies.