ABSTRACT

This study analyses the persistence and true state dependence of overqualification, i.e. a mismatch between workers' qualifications and their jobs' educational requirements. Employing individual-level panel data for Germany, we find that overqualification is highly persistent among university graduates over the first ten years of their career cycle. Accounting for unobserved heterogeneity, results from dynamic random-effects probit models suggest that a moderate share of the persistence can be attributed to true state dependence. Unobserved factors are found to be the main driver of overqualification persistence. However, observed heterogeneity in terms of ability and study characteristics significantly contributes to overqualification persistence.

摘要

这项研究分析了过度资格的持久性和真实状态依赖性，即工人资格与工作受教育程度之间的不匹配。利用德国的个人层面的面板数据，我们发现大学毕业生在其职业生涯的前十年中，过度资格的存在是高度持久的。考虑到未观察到的异质性，动态随机效应概率模型的结果表明，持久性的适度份额可以归因于真实状态依赖性。发现未观察到的因素是超资格持续性的主要驱动力。但是，在能力和学习特征方面观察到的异质性极大地导致了资格过度的持久性。