Labor market conditions in Mexico influence migration flows to the U.S. This paper examines the education–occupation match and its impact on migration before and after the Great Recession. Using detailed Mexican labor market data we find that men with higher education than their occupation typically requires are more likely to migrate. This trend intensified after 2008, resulting in a shift in the profile of migrants. Migrants are now more educated than before, a finding confirmed by U.S. data. Meanwhile, the gap between their education and their Mexican occupation’s requirements widened. These changes may affect their integration into the U.S. economy.

This paper analyzes if the wage premium associated with higher education is different for schooling received online than for schooling received on-ground using two separate years of data on nurses in the United States. Combined, the 2018 and 2022 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses (NSSRN) contain over 74,000 nurses employed full-time. For the nurses who receive additional education beyond their initial nursing education, the NSSRN asks whether the coursework or courses were online. We find a wage penalty for online education. The result appears to be robust, occurring in both years, with and without controls for regional and occupational fixed effects and using controls for potential omitted variables. The extent of the wage penalty varies depending on the model's specification and year being examined.

Education is typically associated with higher earnings, but its impact decreases when there is a mismatch between education and occupation. This study explores the relationship between schooling and earnings in Panama, where recent reforms and economic growth have expanded both the supply and demand for educated workers. While additional education generally raises earnings, the effect is smaller in cases of overeducation. Our findings are consistent with studies from Mexico, with one key difference: despite both countries expanding educational opportunities, Panama saw a rise in higher-level occupations, whereas Mexico did not. The study also highlights a significant gender pay gap.

This paper analyzes the labor market impact of the Great Recession on overeducated and undereducated workers. In March 2008, the U.S. economy was near full employment with an unemployment rate of 4.8 percent. The next year, the unemployment rate peaked at 10.0 percent. The pace of the economic decline allows us to observe the workers' education-occupation match before the downturn and examine its impact on them. We find workers categorized as undereducated prior to the Great Recession less likely to become unemployed or have their hours reduced one year later relative to their just educated and overeducated counterparts, ceteris paribus.

Higher levels of educational have been shown to increases an individual's earnings, but these impacts may be less apparent when an education-occupation match fails to occur. Previous studies show education-occupation mismatches to impact earnings, productivity and migration. We analyze the impact of education-occupation matching on earnings in Mexico from 2012 to 2017. The returns from an additional year of schooling are higher when one secures employment in an occupation that requires the additional education. We also extend our analysis to women whom earn less than their male counterparts, however observe higher returns from additional schooling.

Contrary to expectations, the likelihood of overeducation is shown to be inversely related to unemployment rates when not control for selectivity. Furthermore, incidence data show that overeducation is more common among men than women and among Whites than Blacks. At issue is selectivity: employment must be selected for overeducation to occur. When using bivariate probit with sample selection models, the likelihood of overeducation is found to be positively related to local unemployment rates, higher for women than men, higher for mothers of young children than other women, and lower for fathers than other males. Race, not speaking English very well, and having a disability are found to have a greater impact on the likelihood of overeducation than incidence data suggest.

Using data from the 2004 National Sample Survey of Registered Nurses, the role of occupational heterogeneity in the standard overeducation–required–undereducation (ORU) earnings function introduced by Duncan and Hoffman [1981. The incidence and wage effects of overeducation. Economics of Education Review 1, no. 1: 75–86] is examined. The occupational category of nursing is subdivided into numerous (as many as 267) minor occupational categories in estimating the level of required education. If occupation heterogeneity impacts the ORU earnings function, the effects are likely small as estimates of the ORU earnings functions of nurses are similar to estimates found in other standard multi-occupation studies. Subdividing nursing into minor occupational categories has a tremendous impact on the measured incidences of overeducation, particularly as the number of occupational categories increases from 17 to 39. The results are analogous to findings in the literature which show that varying the measurement of required education has a sizeable impact on incidence levels and little impact on the ORU earnings functions.

Due to short-term asymmetric information, overeducated and undereducated workers are shown to have different optimal strategies in seeking upward occupational mobility into their next positions. Undereducated workers typically have other human capital strengths, but these strengths are not marketable to outsiders. Overeducated workers typically have other human capital weaknesses that are not apparent to outsiders while their excess schooling is marketable in labour markets with dynamic asymmetric information. This article presents empirical evidence showing that job tenure increases the probability of upward occupational mobility more if individuals are undereducated. Moreover, the probability of finding upward occupational mobility is increased by overeducated workers engaging in firm switching. This article also validates prior empirical studies finding overeducated workers more likely to self report engaging in firm switching activities and more likely to experience upward occupational mobility than others.

Scholars have noted that marriage frequently results in a sub-optimal job search. This literature suggests that the overeducation of wives is a result of household migration (tied-mover) or the result of an inability to migrate (tied-stayer). Others have found that overeducation may also be a cause of migration. This study examines overeducation as both a cause and effect of migration. Some evidence shows that families with an overeducated husband are found to be more likely to migrate. In turn, this migration leads to increased levels of overeducation among wives and decreased levels of overeducation among husbands. Household migration is also found to lower the full-time employment rates of wives by more than their male counterparts.

As baby boomers approach the later years of their careers and potentially face early retirement decisions, it is worth remembering that their average level of schooling exceeds that of all previous generations. Accordingly, this paper examines the effects of overeducation on wages and early retirement decisions. The impact of overeducation on the wages of older workers is remarkably similar to that found in younger cohorts. With regards to the retirement decision, the literature suggests a link between overeducation and job dissatisfaction and a separate link between job dissatisfaction and early retirement. However, overeducation late in one's career may not be reflective of genuine skill mismatches or job dissatisfaction if skill mismatches occur. If overeducation has any impact on the likelihood of early retirement it is small as the empirical analysis finds no such evidence.

The positive impact of education on earnings, wages, and economic growth is well documented; however, the issue of education-occupation matching in developing countries has been largely ignored. Since workers’ levels of schooling and their occupations’ required level of education both affect wages, policymakers may find it useful to note if such mismatches exist, if they impact wages, and if they can be avoided. Empirical results from Mexico suggest that in order to obtain the maximum economic benefits from increases in educational attainment levels, a developing country needs to take steps to assure increases in occupational levels also occur. Additional evidence of the positive link between educational attainment and wages is also provided. Due to the multi-period nature of the data; a new method of measuring required education is developed which opens up the education-occupation matching literature to data sets which are not cross sectional in nature.

Using a human capital theory framework, this study examines the impact of educational mismatches on earnings and occupational mobility. Occupational mobility theory suggests that overeducated workers observe greater upward occupational mobility and undereducated workers observe lower upward occupational mobility. By extension, this leads to relatively high earnings growth for overeducated workers and relatively low earnings growth for undereducated workers. Moreover, overeducated workers are probably transient relative to their undereducated counterparts, so employers have few incentives to invest in their human capital. Accordingly, their experience will be rewarded at lower rates. These results may also occur if the unused human capital of overeducated workers depreciates with nonuse. The data verify these predictions. Insights on the link between experience and educational mismatches are also examined.

In this article, we present and test a model that incorporates education-occupation matching into the migration decision. The literature on education-occupation matching shows that earnings are affected by how individuals' education matches that required by their occupation. Accordingly, individuals with more schooling than required by their occupation have an additional incentive to migrate: the increase in earnings that occurs with a more beneficial education-occupation match. Using data from Mexico, we found statistical support for the importance of education-occupation matching in migration decisions. Education-occupation matching provides a plausible explanation for the mixed findings in the literature on the relationship between educational attainment and migration.

Overeducated workers are commonly defined as having more schooling than required and more schooling than others in their occupations. Accordingly, the concept or overeducation compares the educational levels of workers within Occupational categories. In subtle contrast, underemployed workers are employed in occupations requiring less education than the individuals have, comparing the occupational levels of workers with similar educational attainment. This subtle difference potentially leads to interpretation flaws. For example, Buchel and Mertens (2004) claim 'overeducated workers in Germany have markedly lower relative wage growth rates than adequately educated workers.' Since Buchel and Mertens control for educational attainment and not occupational levels, this statement and others are shown to be potentially flawed and subject to misinterpretation. Such statements need to clearly indicate that similarly educated individuals Lire being compared across occupational levels. This is because the common definition of overeducation suggests the opposite that individuals with similar occupation levels are being compared across levels of schooling.

Groot and Maassen van den Brink (International Journal of Manpower 21, 584, 2000a) provide a useful summary of the incidence of overeducation and undereducation. Unfortunately, by combining non-compatible estimates of the impact of surplus schooling (and under schooling) on earnings they potentially bias their estimates downward (upward). This paper bypasses this potential bias by examining only wage estimates that use the “standard” required-surplus-deficit education model of Duncan and Hoffman (1981). The paper also expands the meta-analysis by including approximately 50 additional wage estimates. On average, the literature finds that the premium paid for overeducation is approximately equal to the penalty for undereducation, but lower than the returns associated with an increase in required education. Overeducated individuals earn more than their properly educated co-workers, but less than others with their level of schooling. The paper also examines how different definitions of required education impact the returns from overeducation and undereducation.

Using 1990 US census data, the present paper examines the relationship between overeducation and earnings. The paper updates previous findings and then focuses on those most likely to be overeducated--individuals with post-college schooling. It is hypothesized that specific occupations that require college education may be flexible in their ability to utilize the surplus human capital of the employees. Being overeducated is shown to increase the wages of men working at a job that requires a bachelor's degree. The results are compared with findings in Canada and the UK. Additionally, overeducation is shown to contribute to the gender wage gap.

Analyzing a large data set from the 1990s, this paper attempts to gain insights on the time horizon of overeducation. Overeducation could be a short-run phenomenon for individuals if it occurs as a temporary form of employment; perhaps allowing workers to develop career opportunities or gain experience. However, overeducation may be a way for workers to compensate for weaknesses in other areas of human capital (school quality, experience, etc.), thus a long-run phenomenon for other individuals. Currently one in five overeducated individuals are able to remain employed and exit the category within a year. Additionally, approximately 3% of just-educated individuals enter the overeducated category the following year. The findings are robust, occurring for a variety of demographic groups during different stages in the business cycle.