Page 19 - IDEA Study 10 2015 Skills Mismatches

5. Vertical qualifications mismatch The education level of the Czech population has increased substantially over the past two decades, as was illustrated above. We might thus ask if the demand for higher-educated workers increased at the same rate as the educational structure of the population. If the demand for higher-educated workers did not keep up with the supply, the increased level of education of workers might have translated into overeducation of the workforce. Overeducation, or vertical qualification mismatch, of the Czech workers is studied in this section from several perspectives. First, this section analyses subjective measure of overeducation, which uses self-reported measure of perceived overeducation. Second, an empirical measure of overeducation is analysed, which assesses overeducation prevalence based on the observed educational structure of individuals within narrowly defined occupations. Third, overeducation is studied from the objective perspective using comparison of required skills with actual skills. Finally, the overeducation prevalence in the Czech Republic is compared to that in other EU countries. 5.1.Vertical qualifications mismatch: Methodology Vertical qualification mismatch has been largely studies in the international literature and there is a long debate about the advantages and disadvantages of different types of measures (see e.g. Groot and van den Brink, 2000a and 2000b; Ortiz and Kucel, 2008; Barone and Ortiz, 2011). In general, there are three main categories of vertical qualification mismatch measures – subjective, empirical, and objective. This study reports results for subjective, objective, and empirical measures of overeducation. Subjective measures are based on self-reported assessment of worker’s overeducation – workers are usually directly asked if they feel overeducated for the job they do (see e.g. Groot and van den Brink, 2000b; McGuinness, 2003; McGowan and Andrews, 2015). This measure can thus capture the precise qualification requirements for the particular job that the respondent is pursuing and provide a specific measure of overeducation for very narrowly defined types of jobs. However, it is not entirely clear what do subjective measures actually capture – formal or actual requirements for the position, or rather the overall job satisfaction (Barone and Ortiz, 2011). The subjective measure used in this study is based on a question, which was asked in the ad hoc module of the Czech Labor Force Survey in 2014: “Is your current job less qualified 15