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Overeducation and wages: the role of cognitive skills and personality traits

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  • Marta Palczyñska

Abstract

This article investigates the role of personality traits and cognitive skills as potential determinants of overeducation and in explaining overeducation wage penalty. Using a representative survey of the Polish working-age population, with well-established measures of cognitive skills and personality traits, I find that accounting for personality and cognitive skills does not change the size and the statistical significance of overeducation wage penalty estimates. My results also demonstrate that personality is one of the contributors to the risk of being overeducated among workers aged 18 to 29 but not among people aged 30 to 68. Among younger workers agreeable individuals are more likely to be overeducated while conscientious ones are less likely. Moreover, lower cognitive skills are associated with the probability of being overeducated.

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  • Marta Palczyñska, 2020. "Overeducation and wages: the role of cognitive skills and personality traits," IBS Working Papers 03/2020, Instytut Badan Strukturalnych.
    • Handle: RePEc:ibt:wpaper:wp032020
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    2. Jones, Melanie K. & Kaya, Ezgi & Nan, Jiarui, 2024. "Overeducation, Earnings and Job Satisfaction among Graduates in China," IZA Discussion Papers 17161, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    overeducation; educational mismatch; wages; personality traits; cognitive skills; numeracy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to 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

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