Qualification (Mis)Match for Upper Secondary and Higher Education
The expansion of education all over the world is expected to improve economic and social development. However, the oversupply of educated labor force might bring unfavorable consequences for the labor market and long-run growth prospects. In this regard the purpose of this paper is two-fold. First, it aims at summarizing the main channels and mechanisms through which education–job mismatch could impact the changes of per capita income. Second, the study presents empirical evidence on that impact by differentiating between qualification mismatch among workers having completed tertiary education and those with upper secondary education. The sample comprises the EU member countries between 2000 and 2019. The results suggest that whereas the higher percentage of the properly matched labor force increases the steady-state level of per capita output for both educational levels being considered, the effect of qualification mismatch is either negative or insignificant. There is some evidence that overeducation among higher education graduates exhibits a stronger negative effect on economic activity in comparison with overeducation among workers with upper secondary education.