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Skills heterogeneity among graduate workers: real and apparent overeducation in the Spanish labor market

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  • Mateos-Romero, Lucía
  • Salinas Jiménez, María del Mar

Abstract

This paper relaxes the assumption of homogeneous skills among graduate workers and proposes a new approach to differentiate between real and apparent overeducation based on the level of cognitive skills actually achieved by the individuals. This proposal is applied to the study of the wage effects of overeducation in the Spanish labor market using data from PIAAC. The results suggest that between a quarter and a half of the graduate workers who appear to be overeducated in the Spanish labor market could be considered as being only apparently overeducated since they show a lower level of skills than that corresponding to their educational level or, alternatively, a level of cognitive skills which is commensurate with their job. Different returns are found for each group of overeducated individuals both when compared with adequately educated peers within a similar level of education (with greater wage penalties for apparently overeducated workers) and when the comparison is done with well-matched co-workers doing a similar job (with a wage premium for real overeducation but no significant returns for apparently overeducated workers). These results point to the need of taking account of skills heterogeneity within an educational level when returns to overeducation are analyzed.

Suggested Citation

  • Mateos-Romero, Lucía & Salinas Jiménez, María del Mar, 2015. "Skills heterogeneity among graduate workers: real and apparent overeducation in the Spanish labor market," MPRA Paper 64372, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:64372
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    educational mismatch; skills heterogeneity; real and apparent overeducation;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • A23 - General Economics and Teaching - - Economic Education and Teaching of Economics - - - Graduate
    • 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

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