ABSTRACT

In this study, we explore whether education–occupation mismatch in the form of over-education and under-education affects the risk of long-term sickness absence. We use register data covering the Norwegian population in the period 2003–2013, containing 13,628,079 person-year observations (2,059,989 persons). To account for selection, we controlled for unobserved occupational and individual heterogeneity. This has been lacking in previous studies of mismatch and health outcomes. Our results show that over-education increases, and under-education reduces, the probability of long-term sickness absence. Controlling for selection reduces the associations substantially. The associations also diminish with experience. These results hold across two different measures of mismatch. Furthermore, both time spent in a mismatched status and specifications of mismatch alter the probability of LTSA. We conclude that education–occupation mismatch is associated with long-term sickness absence but underscore the need for adequate controls for selection.

摘要

在这项研究中，我们探讨了以教育过度和教育不足形式出现的教育与职业不匹配是否会影响长期病假的风险。我们使用涵盖 2003 年至 2013 年期间挪威人口的登记数据，其中包含 13,628,079 人年观察（2,059,989 人）。为了解释选择，我们控制了未观察到的职业和个人异质性。这在以前的失配和健康结果研究中一直缺乏。我们的研究结果表明，教育过度会增加长期病假的可能性，而教育不足会降低长期病假的可能性。控制选择会大大减少关联。这些关联也会随着经验而减少。这些结果适用于两种不同的失配度量。此外，处于不匹配状态的时间和不匹配的规范都会改变 LTSA 的概率。我们得出结论，教育-职业不匹配与长期病假有关，但强调需要对选择进行充分控制。