Volume 28, Number 2 (Spring) 1993
Alba-Ramírez, Alfonso. 1993. "Mismatch in the Spanish Labor Market: Overeducation?" Journal of Human Resources 28(2):259-278.
The objective of this article is to explain the job match, which is assessed by comparing attained education and job-required education as reported by workers. We frame our empirical work according to the occupational mobility theory. Using a cross-section of workers from a representative survey of the Spanish labor force, we consider overeducated workers to be those who report that the level of education their jobs require is below the level of education they have attained. Our results indicate that overeducated workers have less experience, decreased on-the-job training and higher turnover than other comparable workers. We also observe an improvement in the job match over age and mobility.
The author is a professor of economics at the University Carlos III of Madrid. He gratefully acknowledges a research grant from the Spanish Ministry of Education and Science in cooperation with the Fulbright Commission during his post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard University and the National Bureau of Economic Research. He also is grateful for the suggestions and comments made by Joshua Angrist, David Bloom, Gary Chamberlain, Richard Freeman, Edward Funkhouser, Lawrence Katz, Henry Levin, Jacob Mincer, John Pencavel, Russell Rumberger, Nachum Sicherman, and seminar participants at Harvard University. He is deeply indebted to three anonymous referees whose comments have improved this article substantially. He thanks Cynthia Costas-Centivany for her generous and invaluable help in editing this work. The data used in this article can be obtained beginning in December 1993 through December 1996 from the author at the following address: Alfonso Alba-Ramirez, Department of Economics, University Carlos III of Madrid. Calle Madrid, 126, 28903 Getafe-Madrid, Spain.
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