Overqualification among Migrants: A Social Judgment Theory Perspective

Some people feel compelled to work at jobs that they are overqualified for, where much of their human capital is likely to be wasted. Some have suggested that this undesirable situation is particularly common for migrants. We address this possibility by asking the questions: a) Are migrants more likely to apply for jobs for which they would be overqualified? b) If so, under what conditions? We apply insights from social judgment theory to a large and unique dataset of migrants and non-migrants. We find that migrant applicants are more likely to apply for a job for which they would be overeducated and/or overskilled. We also find that this relationship is a) stronger when applying for gender segregated jobs, and b) weaker when applying for migrant intensive jobs. Finally, we provide evidence that home country wealth and cultural distance relative to the host country play a significant yet comparatively minor role in explaining migrants’ overqualification. Our findings provide new insights into psychological mechanisms behind overqualification among migrants.