Two competing theories of social support and role specialization have been invoked to explain how marital status affects labour market outcomes. Whereas evidence of beneficial labour market outcomes among married men and employed married women favours a social support perspective, evidence of married women’s reduced labour market participation corresponds to a role specialization perspective. We make two contributions to this literature. First, we apply both theories to first jobs in positions for which the employee is overeducated (educational attainment exceeding job requirements). Second, we employ preference theory to show how selection into marriage shapes its association with being in a position of overeducation. To account for potential selection, we model the probability of being married and the risk of starting a career in overeducation simultaneously based on retrospective data from the German National Educational Panel Study. In line with the theory of role specialization, married women seem to be more likely to start in overeducation than unmarried women. However, adjusting for selection into marriage yields lower risks of overeducation for married women and men in comparison to their unmarried counterparts. This supports the social support perspective on overqualification and highlights how selection into marriage shapes its association with labour market outcomes.

中文翻译：

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婚姻、过度教育的风险和两者兼而有之：来自德国的证据

两种相互竞争的社会支持和角色专业化理论被用来解释婚姻状况如何影响劳动力市场结果。已婚男性和已就业已婚女性在劳动力市场取得有利成果的证据支持社会支持观点，而已婚女性劳动力市场参与减少的证据对应于角色专业化观点。我们对这些文献做出了两个贡献。首先，我们将这两种理论应用于员工受过过度教育（教育程度超过工作要求）的第一份工作。其次，我们运用偏好理论来展示婚姻选择如何影响其与处于过度教育地位的关系。考虑到潜在的选择，我们根据来自德国国家教育小组研究的回顾性数据，同时对结婚的概率和在过度教育中开始职业生涯的风险进行建模。根据角色专业化理论，已婚女性似乎比未婚女性更容易接受过度教育。然而，与未婚同龄人相比，已婚女性和男性接受婚姻选择的调整会降低过度教育的风险。这支持了关于资格过度的社会支持观点，并强调了婚姻选择如何影响其与劳动力市场结果的关联。然而，与未婚同龄人相比，已婚女性和男性接受婚姻选择的调整会降低过度教育的风险。这支持了关于资格过度的社会支持观点，并强调了婚姻选择如何影响其与劳动力市场结果的关联。然而，与未婚同龄人相比，已婚女性和男性接受婚姻选择的调整会降低过度教育的风险。这支持了关于资格过度的社会支持观点，并强调了婚姻选择如何影响其与劳动力市场结果的关联。