Page 33 - IDEA Study 10 2015 Skills Mismatches

Finally, let us have a look at whether the prevalence of horizontal mismatch in different fields of study is somehow related to the field-specific unemployment rates. If there is a strong relationship between the mismatch prevalence and the unemployment rates, this might suggest that the horizontal mismatch indeed reflects a suboptimal labor market situation. Figure 8 illustrates the mismatch and unemployment rates by field of study for secondary and tertiary educated young graduates. For individuals with secondary education, there seems to be only were weak correlation between the share of horizontal mismatch and unemployment rates (correlation coefficient of 0.31). For tertiary educated, the relationship between the horizontal mismatch and unemployment rates is somewhat higher, but still corresponds to a weak correlation only (correlation coefficient of 0.48). Therefore, it seems that the horizontal mismatch does not necessarily reflect a suboptimal labor market situation. Some fields of study might be more focused on skills which are not occupation-specific and these fields of study will probably achieve higher level of horizontal mismatch. However, graduates of these more broadly focused fields might be even more successful on the labor market than graduates of narrowly focused fields. This might be in particular relevant in the current situation on the labor market, where the demand for skills is changing rapidly and workers need to be able to adjust to the changing requirements of employers. 29