Dieter Verhaest

The determinants of overeducation: different measures, different outcomes?

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to assess the measurement sensitivity of the estimated determinants of overeducation. Design/methodology/approach - The paper analyses the determinants of overeducation among Flemish school leavers in their first job by means of probit regression analysis. Overeducation is measured on the basis of job analysis (JA), self-assessments and realised matches. Findings - The results demonstrate that the application of different overeducation measures sometimes leads to different outcomes. Only a few variables – for instance the students academic grade in the final year – are consistently found to be important for the explanation of overeducation. Some outcomes are consistent with the supposition that several indicators actually measure other concepts. Research limitations/implications - Further research using JA measures that are based on alternative and more recent occupational classifications would be useful. Originality/value - The application of different measures provides further insight into the overeducation measurement problem.

Discriminating between alternative measures of over-education

Five over-education measures are evaluated empirically on the basis of encompassing tests. The measures are based on job analysis (JA), worker-assessment of the required level to do the job (WAd), worker-assessment of the required level to get the job (WAg), the mean educational level of realized matches (RMmn), and the modal level of realized matches (RMml). Over- and under-education are linked to wages, job satisfaction, mobility and training participation. For none of the outcome variables, the JA model is encompassed by another model. Given the risk on systematic errors, this is a sufficient condition to prefer a carefully conducted JA to any other measure. The most reliable solution is to use the JA measure as an instrument for the WAd measure.

The Transition from School to Work in Flanders: A Duration Analysis.

The aim of this paper is to distinguish some of the factors that have an influence on the length of the joblessness period between the school‐leaving date and the start of the first job. Several hypotheses are tested on the basis of a duration model using data on Flemish school leavers. The speed of the transition process is found to be a function of factors that are controllable at relatively low cost, such as search intensity, factors that are manageable at large investments cost, such as the level of education, as well as factors that are outside of control, such as ethnicity.

Mister Sandman, Bring Me Good Marks! On the Relationship Between Sleep Quality and Academic Achievement

There is growing evidence that health factors affect tertiary education success in a causal way. This study assesses the effect of sleep quality on academic achievement at university. To this end, we surveyed 804 students about their sleep quality by means of the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) before the start of their first exam period in December 2013 at Ghent University. PSQI scores were merged with course marks in this exam period. Instrumenting PSQI scores by sleep quality during secondary education, we find that increasing total sleep quality with one standard deviation leads to 4.85 percentage point higher course marks. Based on this finding, we suggest that higher education providers might be incentivised to invest part of their resources for social facilities in professional support for students with sleep and other health problems.

On the moderating role of years of work experience in the Job Demand–Control model

The present study allows for a more flexible Job Demand–Control model by introducing years of work experience as a contextual factor (i.e. moderator). Building on the processes of adaptation and diminishing returns to learning-by-doing, the authors assumed that the relationships between job demands, job control and strain versus learning decrease with the number of years an individual has been working (i.e. years of work experience). Hypotheses were tested using data from Flemish workers during their first years on the labour market (N = 3158). The authors accounted for unobserved individual heterogeneity by means of panel data techniques. Results revealed that the impact of control on both strain and learning decreased with years of work experience (i.e. main effect). The authors also found a significant three-way interaction effect between demands, control and years of work experience for both strain and learning, in line with their expectations.

Student Employment and Later Labour Market Success: No Evidence for Higher Employment Chances

We investigate the impact of student work experience on later hiring chances. To completely rule out potential endogeneity, we present a field experiment in which various forms of student work experience are randomly disclosed by more than 1000 fictitious graduates applying for jobs in Belgium. Theoretical mechanisms are investigated by estimating heterogeneous treatment effects by the relevance and timing of revealed student work experience. We find that neither form of student work experience enhances initial recruitment decisions. For a number of candidate subgroups (by education level and occupation type), even an adverse effect is found.

Overeducation in the Early Career of Secondary Education Graduates An Analysis Using Sequence Techniques

Based on monthly observations of their employment and overeducation status in the first seven years after leaving education, we use optimal matching sequence analysis to construct a typology of entry patterns of Flemish secondary education graduates. We find that for a significant number of young people, overeducation constitutes a persistent problem, affecting about half of the sample for nearly the full observation period. Investigating the risk factors shows factors, such as, having lower human capital endowments or facing job search constraints enhancing the risk of following disadvantageous trajectories. A lower reservation wage seems to make being persistently overeducated more likely. Yet, starting as ‘overeducated’ does not necessarily lead to being stuck as overeducated in the rest of the career. About 7 per cent of our sample succeeds in entering an adequate position even after being overeducated for a relatively long period.

The Relationship between Formal Education and Skill Acquisition in Young Workers' First Jobs

We analyse the relation between formal education and skill acquisition (SA) on-the-job for a sample of Flemish school leavers. SA is measured both indirectly through training participation and directly through subjective assessments. Formal education is found to reinforce labour market inequality since additional years of education enhance the probability on all types of SA. This impact is, with respect to general SA, higher for generally than for vocationally educated individuals. Particularly between-occupation effects of education explain these outcomes: jobs that require more years of formal education typically also require more additional training and skill acquisition. Within occupations, we find some limited evidence on both dominant complementary and substitution effects. Undereducated workers have lower overall training and SA probabilities than adequately educated workers in similar occupations; overeducated workers acquire less transferable or general skills than their adequately educated colleagues. Since overeducated workers work in jobs with less additional SA requirements, they also acquire less additional skills than adequately educated workers with a similar educational background.

The Measurement and Determinants of Skill Acquisition in Young Workers’ First Job

The article analyses participation in five types of training (formal on-site, formal off-site, informal co-worker training, learning by watching and learning by doing) and self-assessed skill acquisition in young Flemish workers’ first job. A skill production function is estimated whereby the simultaneity of participation in the different types of training and skill acquisition is taken into account. The results clearly demonstrate the importance of informal training. Formal training participation is found to be only a fraction of total training participation. Moreover, the determinants of total training participation and skill acquisition differ from those of formal training participation. While some training types are complementary, others are clearly substitutes. Finally, most types of training generate additional skills. Nonetheless, learning by doing is found to be complementary to formal education in the production of both specific and general skills, whereas formal training serves as a substitute.

Overeducation and job satisfaction: the role of job demands and control

Purpose - – The purpose of this paper is to investigate how job demands and control contribute to the relationship between overeducation and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach - – The analysis is based on data for Belgian young workers up to the age of 26. The authors execute regression analyses, with autonomy, quantitative demands and job satisfaction as dependent variables. The authors account for unobserved individual heterogeneity by means of panel-data techniques. Findings - – The results reveal a significant role of demands and control for the relationship between overeducation and job satisfaction. At career start, overeducated workers have less control than adequately educated individuals with similar skills levels, but more control than adequately educated employees doing similar work. Moreover, their control increases faster over the career than that of adequately educated workers with a similar educational background. Finally, demands have less adverse effects on satisfaction for high-skilled workers, irrespective of their match, while control moderates the negative satisfaction effect of overeducation. Research limitations/implications - – Future research should look beyond the early career and focus on other potential compensation mechanisms for overeducation. Also the role of underlying mechanisms, such as job crafting, deserves more attention. Practical implications - – The results suggest that providing more autonomy is an effective strategy to avoid job dissatisfaction among overeducated workers. Originality/value - – The study connects two areas of research, namely, that on overeducation and its consequences and that on the role of job demands and control for workers’ well-being. The results contribute to a better understanding why overeducation persists. Moreover, they are consistent with the hypothesis that employers hire overeducated workers because they require less monitoring and are more able to cope with demands, although more direct evidence on this is needed.