Patterns and Persistence of Educational Mismatch: A Trajectory Approach Using Chilean Panel Data

María Paola Sevilla,Mauricio Farías,Daniela Luengo-Aravena

doi:10.3390/socsci10090333

María Paola Sevilla, Mauricio Farías + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/socsci10090333

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Abstract

The misalignment between workers’ educational levels and the educational level typically required for their occupations, namely educational mismatch, has become widespread. However, despite its potential costs, there is little evidence of this situation in developing countries. Using longitudinal and retrospective data of employment histories between 2009 and 2019, this paper conducts sequence analysis to construct a typology of educational mismatch trajectories among Chilean workers. We demonstrate that mismatch is a prevalent and persistent phenomenon. Once people enter the labor market, either as undereducated or overeducated workers, they tend to stay in such positions for extended periods of time. Moreover, we find significant wage penalties for workers in a mismatch situation. Results indicate that females and young, less-educated men are more prone to follow trajectories with longer periods of mismatch or unemployment. New avenues for research and the need for public policies looking at these phenomena are required to avoid people’s dissatisfaction due to a possible false promise that more education can improve their life standards.

Highlights

Once people enter the labor market either as undereducated or overeducated workers, they tend to stay in such positions for extended periods of time
We confirm that there are noteworthy differences by sex, age, and education level in the incidence of mismatch patterns and a wage penalty associated with following a trajectory different from the good match career
By demonstrating the stability and persistence of the overeducation and undereducation trajectories for individuals, our study is in line with previous international evidence that challenges human capital postulates and derived frameworks such as matching theory and career mobility thesis (Baert et al 2013; Acosta-Ballesteros et al 2018; Nunley et al 2017; Kalfa and Piracha 2018; Mavromaras and McGuinness 2012)

Summary

Introduction

Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. The improving learning efforts seem to not coincide with the creation of enough jobs in which people could apply their skill investments The consequences of this imbalance can be sufficiently severe so as to increase levels of unemployment and underemployment among educated workers, as well as accelerate the rate of skills obsolesce and hinder signals to the market. For many researchers, rather than an inefficient educational investment in economic terms, overeducation—the position of a worker with higher levels of qualifications than required—

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