Educational Mismatch and Firm Productivity: Do Skills, Technology and Uncertainty Matter?

Arbeitspapier

The authors provide first evidence on whether the direct relationship between educational mismatch and firm productivity varies across working environments. Using detailed Belgian linked employer-employee panel data for 1999-2010, they find the existence of a significant, positive (negative) impact of over- (under-)education on firm productivity. Moreover, their results show that the effect of over-education on productivity is stronger among firms: (i) with a higher share of high-skilled jobs, (ii) belonging to high-tech/knowledge-intensive industries, and (iii) evolving in a more uncertain economic environment. Interaction effects between under-education and working environments are less clear-cut. However, economic uncertainty is systematically found to accentuate the detrimental effect of under-education on productivity.

Object Details

• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Series: IZA Discussion Papers ; No. 8885

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Wirtschaft ; Labor Force and Employment, Size, and Structure ; Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
• Subject: educational mismatch ; productivity ; linked employer-employee panel data ; working environments

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Geistige Schöpfung
• (who): Mahy, Benoît ; Rycx, François ; Vermeylen, Guillaume
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (who): Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)
• (where): Bonn
• (when): 2015

Further information

• Handle: http://hdl.handle.net/10419/110105
• Last update: 10.03.2025, 11:43 AM CET