Page 28 - IDEA Study 10 2015 Skills Mismatches

6. Horizontal qualifications mismatch Horizontal qualification mismatch refers to the situation when individual’s field of study does not correspond to his/her occupation. It has been shown by previous studies that (similarly to vertical mismatch) horizontal mismatch is often connected to a negative impact on individual wages (Robst, 2007; Nordin et al., 2010). The extent of horizontal mismatch is an important question not only from the perspective of individual wages, but also for the overall efficiency of the matching process on the labor market. However, identification of the horizontal mismatch is probably even more difficult than of the vertical mismatch. There are several ways to define horizontal mismatch. Some studies use subjective measures of horizontal mismatch, which ask workers directly whether their main field of study is appropriate for the work they do (see e.g. Kim et al., 2011). However, as with the subjective measure of vertical mismatch, these measures might also capture a general feeling of disappointment with the job, rather than actual mismatch. Objective measures of horizontal mismatch compare the field of study of an individual with his occupation focusing on the type of qualifications that are acquired in his/her field of study and how do these match to the qualifications needed for his/her occupation (see e.g. Nordin et al., 2010; Mahuteau et al., 2014). This study follows this approach and constructs 46 different fields of education based on the ISCED field of education classification13 and over 400 different occupations based on 4-digit ISCO classification. The combinations of fields of education and occupation are then classified as matched if the qualifications acquired in a particular education field match the qualifications needed for a particular type of occupation. We follow here a relatively strict definition of match, which defines workers as matched only if their occupation corresponds very well to their field of study. However, more than one occupation can be matched to a particular field of study, and more than one field of study can be matched to a particular occupation. The remaining pairs of education- occupation fields are then classified as mismatched.14 The mismatch is thus very broadly defined and includes all individuals who do not work in occupations which would precisely match their field of study. 13 ISCED classification is an internationally comparable classification for organizing education programs and related qualifications by levels and fields of education. For details about fields of education, see e.g.: http://www.uis.unesco.org/Education/Documents/isced-fields-of-education-training-2013.pdf 14 Classification of education-occupation pairs and identification of matched pairs were prepared by Ing. Pavla Bolková who has a long-term experience working with the ISCO classification. A table reporting all education-occupation fields with matched pairs is available upon request. 24