Much Ado about Nothing? The Wage Penalty of Holding a PhD Degree but Not a PhD Job Position

Gaeta, Giuseppe Lucio; Lavadera, Giuseppe Lubrano

doi:10.1108/s0147-912120170000045007

Cited by 28 publications

(67 citation statements)

References 19 publications

(23 reference statements)

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“…by looking at the experience of graduates from the University of Padua, Boccuzzo et al (2016) stress the importance of choosing the "right major" at the beginning of the university career. Gaeta et al (2017) find also a strong correlation of the chances of overeducation of Italian Ph.D. holders by field of study.…”

Section: A Survey Of the Empirical Literaturementioning

confidence: 70%

Overeducation at a Glance. Determinants and Wage Effects of the Educational Mismatch Based on AlmaLaurea Data

Caroleo

2017

Soc Indic Res

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. This essay delivers two main innovations with respect to the existing literature. First, and foremost, by extending the work of Nicaise (2010) relative to the reservation wage to the case of overeducation, we propose a statistical test to discriminate between alternative theoretical interpretations of the determinants of overeducation through the Heckman sample selection procedure. Second, the essay provides the first available economic analysis of the consequences of the educational mismatch in Italy as based on AlmaLaurea data, the largest and richest data bank available in the country. The data includes a large number of university graduates enrolled in a given year before the Bologna reform and asks a large number of questions allowing us measuring among others the quality of education from high school. This wealth of information is a condition to provide the most comprehensive, accurate and reliable assessment of overeducation in the country. The educational mismatch 5 years from graduation is relatively high -at 11.4% and 8% for overeducation and overskilling, respectively -by EU standards. Ceteris paribus the parents of the mismatched have lower educational levels according to school tracking. Most humanities and social sciences degrees but also geology, biology and psychology are associated with both types of mismatch. The quality of education also correlates to the educational mismatch. We find a nonconditional wage penalty associated to overeducation and overskilling of 20% and 16% and a conditional (2012); University of Salerno (2013). We thank all seminar participants and particularly Lilia Costabile, Giuseppe Croce, Hans Dietrich, Francesco Ferrante, Claudio Lucifora, Nadia Netti, Patrizia Ordine, Marco Pecoraro, Claudia Pigini, Giuseppe Rose, Dario Sciulli, Francesca Sgobbi and Peter Sloane for valuable comments on earlier versions of this paper. This notwithstanding, the authors are solely responsible for the opinions expressed in this paper. Terms of use: Documents in2 one of about 12% and 7%, respectively. The Heckman sample selection model returns a slightly higher sample selection corrected wage penalty, supporting not only the job competition and job assignment models, but also the human capital model. Other concurrent statistical tests point to the difficulty that the educational system faces in providing work-related skills to graduates.

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Section: A Survey Of the Empirical Literaturementioning

confidence: 70%

Overeducation at a Glance. Determinants and Wage Effects of the Educational Mismatch Based on AlmaLaurea Data

Caroleo

2017

Soc Indic Res

Self Cite

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“…On one hand, the predominant employment of postgraduates outside the academia may indicate a surplus of highly qualified academic staff. Researchers pose a question -is a PhD degree necessary to develop a non-academic career [Manathunga, Lant 2006;Gaeta et al 2016]? On the other hand, such situation with the postgraduate employment challenges the value of doctoral education in its current state.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Who is Happy at Doctoral Programs: The Connection between Employment and Learning Outcomes of PhD Students

Бекова¹,

Dzhafarova²

2019

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Doctoral education in Russia has high dropout rates. Many experts have attributed this to the generally low amounts of financial aid afforded to PhD students, which prompts them to seek out employment while pursuing a doctorate. However, current discussion is largely anecdotal in nature as it is mostly based on expert conjectures that only reflect limited statistics or rather cursory evidence from individual cases. Drawing upon findings from a 2016 survey of PhD students at leading Russian universities, we assess the extent and types of employment of postgraduates, as well as the experiences of those PhD students who balance work and study and the main challenges that confront them. We explore how such factors as one's area of employment, the type of contract worked, and the nature of the job performed affect how PhD hopefuls conceive of the educational process alongside their specific learning outcomes and career prospects. We conclude that balancing work and study can benefit both the academic performance and professional experiences of PhD students, but only insofar as the topic of one's PhD thesis research is closely aligned with what they do in the workplace. The results of the study can be used when developing measures to reform doctoral education both at the institutional and nation-state levels.

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“…To make up for this skill mismatch, employers tend to favour a higher level of experience (Kulkarni, Lengnick-Hall, & Martinez, 2015). This mismatch has consequences for the employment situation of doctorate holders, and especially for wages (Allen & Van der Velden, 2001;Gaeta, Lubrano Lavadera, & Pastore, 2016). Studies show that geographical mobility and entrepreneurship are possible solutions for doctorate holders to find more suitable employment, thus reducing this mismatch (Ghosh & Grassi, 2017;Stenard & Sauermann, 2016).…”

Section: The Regional Labour Market For Doctorate Holdersmentioning

confidence: 99%

Doctoral education and employment in the regions: the case of Catalonia

Germain-Alamartine

2019

Regional Studies, Regional Science

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Even though the doctoral degree was originally designed for an academic career, there is an increasingly important labour market for doctorate holders outside academia, mainly because of a shortage of job opportunities within it. Doctoral degrees are granted only by universities; thus, universities are the only suppliers of the doctoral workforce to the labour market. Understanding the needs of non-academic employers is thus crucial if universities are to adapt their doctoral education curriculum. Many studies have analyzed labour markets for doctorate holders at national and transnational scales, but few studies focus on the regional scale. The present study explores regional data for Catalonia in Spain on the employment situation of doctorate holders in order to define the characteristics of the regional, nonacademic labour market for doctorate holders. Descriptive statistics suggest a high retention rate of doctorate holders within the region and a large part of doctorate holders (two-thirds) having a job that does not require a doctoral degree. This study highlights the existence of a skills mismatch that might be linked to the preference for a better paid or more stable job, or to the lack of development of skills that represent added value in the eyes of employers. These characteristics can be formulated as hypotheses to be tested in further qualitative or quantitative studies. They have several implications for universities, nonacademic employers and regional policy-makers, such as the need to work on the valorization of the doctoral degree in the non-academic labour market.

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Much Ado about Nothing? The Wage Penalty of Holding a PhD Degree but Not a PhD Job Position

Cited by 28 publications

References 19 publications

Overeducation at a Glance. Determinants and Wage Effects of the Educational Mismatch Based on AlmaLaurea Data

Overeducation at a Glance. Determinants and Wage Effects of the Educational Mismatch Based on AlmaLaurea Data

Who is Happy at Doctoral Programs: The Connection between Employment and Learning Outcomes of PhD Students

Doctoral education and employment in the regions: the case of Catalonia

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