Education–Job (Mis)Match and Interregional Migration: Italian University Graduates' Transition to Work

Abstract

This paper analyses the micro-level determinants of the education-job (mis)matches of recent university graduates in Italy. As the Italian graduate population has experienced increasing internal migration, we focus in particular on the role of interregional migration in driving education-job match. The methodology takes into account both the endogenous relationship between migration and employment, and the self-selection bias between employment and education-job (mis)match. Using a survey on Italian graduates' entry into the labour market, we find that whilst migration at the national level is confirmed to have a positive role in both finding a job and decreasing the probability of overeducation, robust differences emerge when looking at the subnational dimension. Indeed, the Northern regions by receiving inflows of Southern graduates that manage to attain a good education-job match in the recipient labour markets, are apparently reaping part of the return to the investment in university education bore in the South.

Entry into working life: Internal migration and the job match quality of higher‐educated graduates

“…() survey the literature and find that, generally, migrants tend to avoid regions with relatively high unemployment rates (Herzog et al., ; Pissarides & Wadsworth, ). Among others, Büchel and Van Ham () and Iammarino and Marinelli () demonstrate that spatial flexibility reduces the likelihood of being overeducated for one's job.…”

“…At the individual level, spatial mobility is sometimes necessary to escape from a lack of suitable job opportunities, as an inferior match early in the career may have negative longer‐term consequences (Brunner & Kuhn, ; Waldorf & Yun, ). Recent graduates have been found to be particularly spatially mobile, since, following graduation, they seek to achieve a good match on the labor market to obtain a high return on their educational investment (Hensen, De Vries, & Cörvers, ; Iammarino & Marinelli, ; Venhorst, Van Dijk, & Van Wissen, ).…”

Universities, knowledge and regional development

“…Second, does the spatial mismatch between where students graduate and are subsequently employed result in a 'brain gain' for some regions and a 'brain drain' for others? Iammarino and Marinelli's (2015) recent study found that affluent northern regions of Italy benefit disproportionately from the investment in university education made in southern regions because of this process. Frenkel and Leck demonstrate that in Israel there is a stronger education-job match in STEM subjects than in the social sciences.…”

Job accessibility and job‐education mismatch in the metropolitan area of Barcelona

“…It is worth noting thatIammarino and Marinelli (2014) focused on the effect of inter-regional migration in explaining job-education mismatch among Italian university graduates and also controlled for endogenous migration decisions.…”