The role of overeducation and horizontal mismatch for gender inequalities in labor income of higher education graduates in Europe

Abstract

Evidence on gender inequality in the labor market is extensive. However, little is known about the potential role of overeducation and horizontal mismatch in explaining women’s labor-market disadvantages. We draw on recent data from the Eurograduate pilot survey to investigate the role of overeducation, field-of-study mismatch and field-specific overskilling for gender gaps in labor income in the European landscape. We found considerable variations in the extent of both gender earning gaps (GEGs) and wage gaps (GWGs) across countries. However, our decomposition analyses show that neither overeducation nor horizontal mismatch contribute to explaining these gender gaps. The lack of mediation seems related to either the absence of gender differences in overeducation and horizontal mismatch, or to the nonexistence of income penalties associated with the mismatch.

Occupational Gender Segregation and Mental Health among Professionals: Women’s Risk Exposure in Five Micro Classes

“…Relaxing the homogeneity assumption allows us to investigate whether women's opportunities in a post-industrial economy mean that all women are better off than before or whether certain categories of women have benefited more than others (Mulè 2023). The scant literature on "within-women" inequality often differentiates women according to educational attainment, income level, or occupation (Korpi et al 2013;McCall 2000;Hook and Li 2020;Sauer et al 2022).…”