Occupation–education mismatch of immigrant workers in Europe: Context and policies

Aleksynska, Mariya; Tritah, Ahmed

doi:10.1016/j.econedurev.2013.06.001

Cited by 103 publications

(92 citation statements)

References 51 publications

(27 reference statements)

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“…In line with recent literature such Aleksynska and Tritah (2013) or Piracha and Vadean (2013), the starting point of the research by Nieto et al (2015) is that the imperfect transferability of human capital acquired in origin countries forces immigrants to accept jobs requiring lower qualifications than those they have acquired, making them formally overeducated. But, this situation, also known as vertical mismatch, is compatible with horizontal mismatch, that is related to the match between worker type or field of education and that which is required by their jobs.…”

Section: Editorial To the Special Issuementioning

confidence: 72%

Migration, human capital and social capital: lessons for the EU neighbouring countries

2015

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Purpose:The European Union and its European Neighbourhood are mutually dependent. In the next decades, the European Union (EU) will need to import foreign labour in response to different challenges. The geographical proximity, economic, cultural and historical links with EU Neighbouring countries make them an important potential source of labour force and, moreover, they are the main countries of origin and transit of legal and illegal migration towards Europe. The purpose of this special issue is to analyse the impact of different EU policies on future migration flows, and to evaluate the current effect of immigration from neighbouring countries on EU labour markets.Design/methodology/approach: The articles in this special issue combine different macro and micro approaches, and have been produced in the context of the 7 th Framework Programme EU-funded SEARCH project. The main objective of this project is to strengthen the integration process by analysing current and future trends in several areas covering trade, migration or institutional reforms among others. The first three articles focus on the analysis of the determinants of migration flows, the next four are related to immigrants' integration and the last one explores the trade-migration link. Findings:The evidence gathered in this special issue is of interest to academics and policy makers. For instance, at the aggregate level there is a need to coordinate EU migration policies with reforms in other areas such as labour market institutions or welfare systems, but also to take into account developments in immigrants' countries of origin. Policy should focus on assessing the skills levels of immigrants and providing assistance in transferring their skills, but also on providing better information of the current needs in the EU labour markets. Originality/value:The special issue adds to the literature on the determinants of migration and on the integration of immigrants into EU labour markets. These articles contribute to a better understanding of the complex link between the European Union and the Neighbouring countries. They also leave open many questions that should clearly stimulate future research.

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Section: Editorial To the Special Issuementioning

confidence: 72%

Migration, human capital and social capital: lessons for the EU neighbouring countries

2015

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“…Personality traits also affect the risk of overeducation and frequently are more important than ability (Blázquez and Budría 2012;Tarvid 2013). Empirical evidence about gender effects has been mixed, with roughly equal number of studies concluding that women have a higher skills mismatch risk than men (Aleksynska and Tritah 2013;Baert et al 2013;Betti et al 2011;Karakaya et al 2007;Ramos and Sanromá 2013;Tani 2012;Verhaest and Omey 2010;Verhaest and Van der Velden 2013) as those finding no difference across sex (Blázquez and Budría 2012;Büchel and van Ham 2003;Chevalier 2003;Chevalier and Lindley 2009;Frei and Sousa-Poza 2012;Frenette 2004;Støslashren and Wiers-Jenssen 2010;Wirz and Atukeren 2005); a few studies result in men being at a relative disadvantage (European Commission 2012;Kiersztyn 2013).…”

Section: Determinants Of Job Polarization and Skills Mismatchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Higher shares of temporary contracts increase overeducation via lowering the selectivity of employers and workers, while higher long-term unemployment decreases it by keeping less-able workers out of labour force (Croce and Ghignoni 2012). A larger shadow economy does not affect the mismatch likelihood of the locally-born, but decreases the chances of overeducation of immigrants by easing the job search process for the lower-skilled; finally, employment protection legislation increases undereducation (Aleksynska and Tritah 2013). Macro-level supply factors also play a role: overeducation on a particular education level increases with the share of population having that education level (Di Pietro 2002).…”

Section: Determinants Of Job Polarization and Skills Mismatchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Some studies show that overeducation decreases with age (Aleksynska and Tritah 2013;Jensen et al 2010;Robst 2008;Sutherland 2012) or has a U-shaped relationship with it (Tarvid 2012), while others report that age is irrelevant (Blázquez and Budría 2012;Chevalier and Lindley 2009;Frei and Sousa-Poza 2012;Kiersztyn 2013;Wirz and Atukeren 2005). Overall, these results imply that the young may still have a comparatively higher probability of mismatch after controlling for other relevant factors.…”

Section: Determinants Of Job Polarization and Skills Mismatchmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Overall, these results imply that the young may still have a comparatively higher probability of mismatch after controlling for other relevant factors. First-and second-generation immigrants face higher risk of mismatch (Aleksynska and Tritah 2013;Tarvid 2012) and residence duration seems to have no effect on it (Aleksynska and Tritah 2013;Fernández and Ortega 2008). Where overeducation decreases with the length of stay, it was interpreted as immigrants preferring unemployment (Støren and Wiers-Jenssen 2010), may be affected by the country's skillbased immigration policy (Tani 2012), or happens only for specific types of education (Beckhusen et al 2013).…”

Section: Determinants Of Job Polarization and Skills Mismatchmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Imbalanced Job Polarization and Skills Mismatch in Europe

Sparreboom

Tarvid

2016

J Labour Market Res

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This paper considers the education of the labour force based on an analysis of trends in and the relationships between job polarization and skills mismatch. Both job polarization and skills mismatch have become topics of increasing interest, but relationships between the two have been relatively neglected in the literature. We argue that the relationship between polarization and skills mismatch is an empirical matter, which we analyse at both the macroeconomic and microeconomic level in European countries. A novel job polarization index (JPI) is proposed to measure imbalanced job polarization. It takes into account not only the change in the share of medium-level jobs, as is typical for measuring pure polarization, but also the imbalance between the change in high-level and low-level jobs. Skills mismatch at macrolevel is measured by a skills mismatch index (SMI), while traditional measures of undereducation and overeducation are used at the microeconomic level. At the macroeconomic level, we estimate a system of two equations, one for each of the country-level variables gauging polarization and mismatch, respectively. Imbalanced job polarization measured Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1007/s12651-016-0196-y) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.Responsibility for opinions expressed in this paper rests solely with the authors and does not constitute an endorsement by the ILO. by the JPI negatively affects skills mismatch at the macroeconomic level (SMI), but there is no significant reverse effect. Thereafter we consider the microeconomic level and study the determinants of mismatch using multi-level mixed effects logistic models. The effect of imbalanced job polarization on individual-level mismatch was arguably favourable for individuals in non-crisis time, decreasing overeducation risk although also increasing the chances of undereducation, both gauged using the normative measure, but unfavourable during the global financial crisis of 2008-2009 and the following two years.

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Skills mismatch and the migration paradox of Israeli life scientists

Cohen

Eyal

2021

Population Space and Place

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The paper examines the nexus between skills mismatch, educational/industrial policies, and brain circulation in Israel. Focusing on the field of life sciences (LS), it argues that migratory movements of highly educated Israelis are fueled by vertical (inadequate level) and horizontal (inadequate type) skills mismatches. It shows that whereas many so‐called bio‐brains migrate due to being underqualified (lacking postdoctoral training), their return is often delayed or prevented altogether due to shortage of academic positions and the incompatibility between their fields of (academic) specialisation and the (industrial) jobs available in the country's small LS industry. Drawing on primary and secondary qualitative data, the paper analyses the structural forces and agentic articulations behind this migration paradox, which sees departing bio‐scientists who are underqualified for academic positions becoming (potential) returnees who are largely overqualified and inappropriately trained for industrial jobs. The paper concludes by highlighting potential avenues for research on the links between skills mismatch and international mobility.

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Occupation–education mismatch of immigrant workers in Europe: Context and policies

Cited by 103 publications

References 51 publications

Migration, human capital and social capital: lessons for the EU neighbouring countries

Migration, human capital and social capital: lessons for the EU neighbouring countries

Imbalanced Job Polarization and Skills Mismatch in Europe

Skills mismatch and the migration paradox of Israeli life scientists

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