Abstract
If a person is overqualified in the sense that an employee’s level of training exceeds the job requirements, then some human capital lies idle and cannot be converted into appropriate (monetary and non-monetary) returns. Migrants are particularly at risk of being overqualified in their employment; however, this phenomenon cannot be fully explained by differences in human capital or socio-economic characteristics. This paper examines whether social capital plays a decisive role in migrants’ risk of overqualification in Germany. Using data from the German IAB-SOEP Migration Sample, we analyse the job search process of migrants to determine whether social networks influence their risk of being employed below their acquired educational level. We estimate logistic regression models and find that social capital influences the adequacy of migrants’ jobs: We show that migrants are at a greater risk of overqualification if they use only informal job search strategies such as relying on friends or family members. Moreover, we find that homophilous migrant networks and jobs in employment niches are risk factors for overqualification. We conclude that the combination of informal job search modes and homophilous migrant networks leads to a comparably high risk for migrants of being overqualified in their employment in the German labour market.
Highlights
A large body of empirical research has shown that migrants face difficulties when attempting to integrate into their host countries’ labour markets
This study aims to address this deficit and contributes to the literature by answering the following research questions for the German5 context: Is social capital, activated during the job search process, related to migrants’ particular risk of being overqualified in their employment? Are migrants, who rely on social resources while searching for a job, more likely to be overqualified for their job than those who use formal methods of job search? Is there a link between overqualification and being employed in migrant employment niches?
To determine whether social capital is connected to the phenomenon of overqualified employed migrants, we assumed that the probability varies depending on the job search strategies used
Summary
A large body of empirical research has shown that migrants face difficulties when attempting to integrate into their host countries’ labour markets. Migrants have smaller shares of qualified jobs in high-status occupations (Constant & Massey, 2005; Granato & Kalter, 2001; Simón et al, 2008); they tend to obtain lower wages relative to those of natives (Aldashev et al, 2012). Another important aspect of (successful) labour market integration is an employee’s educational suitability for a job. Overqualification implies that the human capital acquired through the education system cannot be utilised in its entirety and cannot be converted into appropriate (monetary or non-monetary) returns (Büchel, 2001; McGuinness, 2006; Pollmann-Schult & Büchel, 2002).
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