Graduates in economics and educational mismatch: the case study of the University of Naples “Parthenope

The quality of jobs of economics graduates was studied in terms of educational mismatch. The returns of over-education on earnings and on the job-search were also investigated. The discussion regards the second wave of a longitudinal survey of a random sample of economics graduates from the University of Naples “Parthenope”, a major school of economics in southern Italy. Over-education was measured using two different indicators of educational mismatch, one based on an objective parameter and the other on the same parameter combined with a subjective one. A probit regression with selection was carried out to analyse the influence of a set of control variables (such as family, background, employment geography and characteristics of job, work history, gender and channels used to enter the labour market) on over-education. The same variables were used to study the returns of over-education on earnings and on the job-search. The probability of being over-educated was significantly affected by gender, attainments in Higher Education (HE), channels used to enter the labour market, job location and job sector applied for. Females, lower HE achievers and graduates working in trade/sales or information systems sectors were likely to be over-educated than other subjects, whereas use of further education to enter the labour market decreased the probability of low earnings. Over-education and low earnings induced workers to change jobs.