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Occupational mismatch of immigrants in Europe: the role of education and cognitive skills

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  • Merve Cim
  • Michael Kind
  • Jan Kleibrink

Abstract

Occupational mismatch is a widespread phenomenon among immigrants in many European countries. Mismatch is predominantly measured in terms of formal education ignoring the imperfect comparability of international educational degrees. Exploiting internationally comparable cognitive skill measures from the PIAAC data, we examine whether overeducation implies only an apparent phenomenon or a genuine overqualification observed also in the form of cognitive overskilling. Our results for 11 European countries show significant differences in the incidence of formal overeducation and genuine overqualification between immigrants and natives.

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  • Merve Cim & Michael Kind & Jan Kleibrink, 2020. "Occupational mismatch of immigrants in Europe: the role of education and cognitive skills," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 28(1), pages 96-112, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:edecon:v:28:y:2020:i:1:p:96-112
    DOI: 10.1080/09645292.2019.1677558
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    2. Romina Giuliano & Benoît Mahy & François Ryckx & Guillaume Vermeylen, 2024. "Overeducation, Overskilling and Job Satisfaction in Europe: The Moderating Role of Employment Contracts," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2024003, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J71 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - Hiring and Firing

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