Female overeducation, job satisfaction and the impact of children at home in Australia

Abstract

This paper extends current research into the relationship between overeducation and job satisfaction. Specifically, we study this relationship for Australian females only. This is pertinent, in that significant gender occupational segregation exists within the Australian labour market. Existing studies, which rely solely on male data or fail to make any distinction between genders, may, therefore, produce results that are not relevant to policy makers attempting to improve the labour force participation and experience of Australian females. One particular aspect of interest is the role of child rearing status, which disproportionately affects females. Our econometric analysis reveals that for females with dependent children at home, overeducation has a detrimental effect on a minority of satisfaction measures, whereas for females without children at home, overeducation has a detrimental effect on a majority of satisfaction measures. This suggests that the inverse relationship between overeducation and job satisfaction is, at least in part, ameliorated, by the presence of children.