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Overeducation, skill mismatches, and labor market outcomes for college graduates

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Document
Content Type:
Overeducation, skill mismatches, and labor market outcomes for college graduates
Language:

English

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english
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skpEng
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Academic institutions

Research papers, synthesis reports, country and programme studies are collected from many academic institutions and national, regional and international professional associations.

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skpAcaInst
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academic-institutions

Other sources

Experts from many international, regional and national agencies generously share their views, experiences and findings on skills, helping policy-makers among other stakeholders to understand the linkages between education, training and the world of work, and how to integrate skills into national development planning to promote employment and economic growth.

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other-sources
Topics:

Youth employability

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Globally, nearly 68 million young women and men are looking for and available for work,  and an estimated 123 million young people are working but living in poverty. The number who are not in employment, education or training (NEET) stands at 267 million, a majority of whom are young women. Significantly, young people are three times as likely as adults (25 years and older) to be unemployed.

Skills development is a primary means of enabling young people to make a smooth transition to work. A comprehensive approach is required to integrate young women and men in the labour market, including relevant and quality skills training, labour market information, career guidance and employment services, recognition of prior learning, incorporating entrepreneurship with training and effective skills forecasting. Improved basic education and core work skills are particularly important to enable youth to engage in lifelong learning as well as transition to the labour market. 

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skpYoEmp
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youth-employability
Knowledge Products:

Research papers

Working papers, reports, and other publications from international organizations, academic institutions and bilateral agencies. Research findings to stimulate informed debate on skills, employment and productivity issues. 

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skpRPS
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research-papers
Publication Date:
08 Jun 2020
Concerns exist that overeducation damages employee welfare; however it is overeducation combined with overskilling that is the real problem. Labor market mismatches (where employee qualifications do not match job requirements or are not used on the job) can result from overeducation or overskilling, which are two distinct phenomena. Policymakers should be especially concerned with overskilling which is likely to be harmful both to the welfare of employees (lower job satisfaction) and the interests of employers (lower productivity). Thus policy should ensure that education policies recognize that they must integrate with policies on skill formation outside the workplace, in case over-production of formal education interacts negatively with skill formation.
Subject Tags:

Job matching

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job-matching
Identifier
649

Skills mismatch

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skills-mismatch
Identifier
654
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