The role of migration on education–job mismatch: evidence from overseas graduates in Australia

The number of domestically educated overseas graduates remaining in Australia after graduation has risen significantly since 2007. There is growing evidence to suggest that overseas graduates have a high probability of being employed in lower-skilled jobs that do not match their educational qualifications. A lack of spatial flexibility in terms of geographic mobility underlies this outcome. Prior work has examined the role of long-distance commuting in reducing the chance of experiencing an education_–job mismatch, but there is limited empirical research on the way migration acts as a strategy to overcome this misalignment. Compared to long-distance commuting, migration enables a larger geographical scope of job search and thus is regarded as offering a greater potential in mitigating education–job mismatch. Drawing on annual data from the Australian Graduate Survey between 2008 and 2012, this chapter examines the role of internal migration in lowering the likelihood of overseas graduates experiencing an education–job mismatch. Results highlight that migration leads to a reduction of education–job mismatch among overseas graduates. Nonetheless, the extent of this impact is marginal, lowering the probability by only 2–3 per cent. This modest effect is attributed to the tendency of overseas graduates to echo the settlement patterns of long-standing migrants and relocate to metropolitan regions that typically have a higher incidence of education–job mismatch.