Measuring the mismatch between field of study and occupation using a task-based approach

Mauricio Reis

doi:10.1186/s12651-018-0243-y

Abstract

This paper seeks to provide a continuous measure to represent the distance between skills acquired in tertiary education and those required in an individual’s occupation. This distance measure, which is computed by combining data from the 2010 Brazilian census with information from the 2010 Brazilian classification of occupations, suggests that workers usually classified in most of the literature into a single group of mismatches are in fact quite heterogeneous in the way their occupations are associated with areas of study. Evidence also shows that, even among mismatched workers, hourly labor earnings tend to decrease as the distance measure increases. This indicates the labor earnings penalty is not the same for all mismatched workers, seemingly changing substantially depending on the level of similarity between occupation and field of study.

Highlights

1 Introduction Empirical evidence shows that individuals with tertiary education employed in occupations unrelated to their fields of study earn, on average, less than those in occupations closely matched to their fields of study
Part of this labor earnings penalty has been attributed to the fact that a share of the skills acquired during tertiary education could be specific to occupations related to the chosen field of study, and those who are mismatched may be inefficiently using their skills (Robst 2007)
5 Conclusions Students at university/college usually learn skills necessary to work in an occupation or in a small set of occupations directly related to the chosen field of study

Summary

Introduction

Empirical evidence shows that individuals with tertiary education employed in occupations unrelated to their fields of study earn, on average, less than those in occupations closely matched to their fields of study. The empirical approach usually adopted to estimate the labor earnings consequences of mismatches between occupation and field of study among graduates is based on binary variables to represent their statuses as matched, weakly matched, or mismatched. This approach does not seem to be able to appropriately represent disparities in the degree of similarity between occupations and fields of study. A mismatched worker may have an occupation in which a substantial share of the skills acquired during tertiary education is still useful, whereas another mismatched worker who completed the same program may have an occupation that requires completely different skills

Objectives

Methods

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Conclusion