Credential disconnection: a Marxist analysis of college graduate underemployment

The Influence of Education on Subjective Underemployment: Research on Multinational Corporations in Romania

“…H2: There is a connection between level of education and subjective underemployment: Of all factors potentially affecting the perception of underemployment, education seems to be the strongest. Previous researches have demonstrated a connection to exist between the two variables (Cunningham, 2016;Sikora et al, 2016). The present study starts from the prerequisite that the same connection is as well valid for the Romanian multinationals' context selected.…”

“…One of the factors strongly influencing underemployment is education. Educational underemployment occurs when employees have to conclude work that does not correspond to their degrees, keeping them away from (efficiently) using their knowledge, skills or experiences gained during school or university (Cunningham, 2016). Educational underemployment (or graduate underemployment) represents a situation in which employees (usually fresh graduates) are not being offered (enough) opportunities to make use of the knowledge or skills learned back in school or university (Cassidy, Wright, 2008;Nabi, 2003).…”

“…Studies have revealed that underemployment has grown to an everincreasing concern for human resources specialists since the early 2000's onwards (Kler et al, 2008;Loughrey, Hennessy, 2014), with the recent financial crisis of 2007/2008 only provoking the burden farther out (Cunningham, 2016). In spite of its growing importance, the topic is still under-researched (Beukes et al, 2017;Nabi, 2003).…”

Youth underemployment: A review of research on young people and the problems of less(er) employment in an era of mass education

“…Cunningham (2015, p. 227) expands upon this idea: 'in many cases, it is an individual's education that dictates whether the individual is underemployed, with the critical question being whether the skills obtained in college find realization in one's occupation'. Here, Cunningham (2015) is suggesting that underemployment is not only subjective but operates on a caseby-case basis in which the individual decides whether they are underemployed depending on the match between their skills and their occupation. Indeed, Mehta et al (2011) suggests that overeducation only matters when individuals begin to question their investment in education as opposed to other pathways, which can often be the case for young people who churn between cycles of unemployment and underemployment (Allen, 2016).…”

“…Young people can feel a sense of being overqualified for a job which is a form of subjective underemployment or what Livingstone (2004, p. 206) observes as the “perception of overqualification for current job; [an] unfilled desire to use work skills that are unrecognized in present job; and a sense of entitlement to a better job”. Cunningham (2015, p. 227) expands upon this idea: ‘in many cases, it is an individual's education that dictates whether the individual is underemployed, with the critical question being whether the skills obtained in college find realization in one's occupation’. Here, Cunningham (2015) is suggesting that underemployment is not only subjective but operates on a case‐by‐case basis in which the individual decides whether they are underemployed depending on the match between their skills and their occupation.…”