- Published:
Mismatching and job tasks in Germany — rising over-qualification through polarization?
Empirical Research in Vocational Education and Training volume 3, pages 39–53 (2011)
Abstract
The paper looks for evidence on whether there is a rise in over-qualification caused by changing skill demand, i.e. a decline of middling jobs, in Germany. We use the BIBB/IAB and BIBB/BAuA Employment Surveys 1979, 1985/86, 1991/92, 1998/1999 and 2005/2006 to compute measures of person-to-job matching. Firstly, we explore their trends over time. Secondly, we analyze whether trends in over-qualification are related to changes in workers’ job tasks. The paper thus contributes to the literature by providing in-depth figures on the incidence of qualification- and skill-based mismatching in Germany within the last three decades. Secondly, we add to the literature by linking the «task-based approach» to the debate on mismatching in Germany.
References
Antonczyk, D.; Fitzenberger, B. & Leuschner, U. (2009). Can a task-based approach explain the recent changes in the German wage structure? Journal of Economics and Statistics, 229(2+3):214–238
Antonczyk, D.; DeLeire, T. & Fitzenberger, B. (2010). Polarization and rising wage inequality: Comparing the U.S. and Germany. IZA Discussion Paper Series, No. 4842. Bonn: IZA
Autor, D. H. & Handel, M. J. (2009). Putting tasks to the test: human capital, job tasks and wages. NBER Working Paper, No. 15116. Cambridge MA: National Bureau of Economic Research
Autor D. H.; Katz, L. F. & Kearney, M. S. (2006). The polarization of the US labor market. Cambridge MA: National Bureau of Economic Research
Autor, D. H.; Levy, F. & Murnane, R. J. (2003). The skill content of recent technological change: An empirical exploration. Quarterly Journal of Economics 118(4)
Duncan, G. J. & Hoffman S. D. (1981). The incidence and wage effects of overeducation. Economics of Education Review, 1(1): 75–86
Geißler, R. (2011). Die Sozialstruktur Deutschlands. Wiesbaden, VS Verlag
Goos, M. & Manning, A. (2007). Lousy and lovely jobs: the rising polarization of work in Britain. The review of economics and statistics, 89(1): 118–133
Goos, M.; Manning, A. & Salomons, A. (2009). Job polarization in Europe. American Economic Review Papers and Proceedings, Vol. 99, No. 2, May 2009, pp. 58–63
Green, F. (2006). Demanding work. The paradox of job quality in the affluent economy. Princeton NY: Princeton University Press
Green, F. & McIntosh, S. (2007). Is there a genuine under-utilization of skills amongst the over-qualified? Applied Economics, 39: 427–439
Hartog, J. (2000). Overeducation and earnings. Where are we, where should we go? Economics of Education Review, 19(2): 131–147
Kalleberg, A. L. (ed.) (1996). Organizations in America. Analyzing their structures and human resource practices. Thousand Oaks CA: Sage
Korpi, T. & Tåhlin, M. (2009). Educational mismatch, wages, and wage growth. Overeducation in Sweden 1974–2000. Labour economics, 16(2): 183–193
McGuinness, S. (2006). Overeducation in the labour market. Journal of economic surveys, 20(3): 387–418
Rabe-Hesketh, S. & Skrondal, A. (2008). Multilevel and longitudinal modeling using Stata. College Station: Stata Press
Rohrbach-Schmidt, D. & Tiemann, M. (forthcoming). Qualification and skill-based mismatching in Germany, In: F. Green & M. Keese: Job tasks, work skills and the labour market. Paris, OECD
Rubb, S. (2003). Overeducation in the labor market. A comment and re-analysis of a meta-analysis. Economics of Education Review, 22(6): 621–629
Sattinger, M. (1993). Assignment models of the distribution of earnings. Journal of economic literature, 31(2): 831–880
Sichermann, N. & Galor, O. (1990). A theory of career mobility. Journal of Political Economy, 98(1): 169–192
Sørensen, A. B. & Kalleberg, A. L. (1981). An outline of a theory of the meaning of persons to jobs. In: I. Berg (ed.): Sociological perspectives on labor markets, pp. 49–74. New York, Academic Press
Spence, M. A. (1973). Job market signaling. Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87(3): 355–374
Spitz-Oener, A. (2006). Technical change, job tasks, and rising educational demands. Looking outside the wage structure. Journal of labor economics, 24(2): 235–270
Thurow, L. C. (1973). Generating inequality. New York: Basic Books
Tiemann, M.; Schade, H.-J.; Helmrich, R. et al. (2008). Berufsfeld-Definitionen des BIBB. Wissenschaftliche Diskussionspapiere des Bundesinstitutes für Berufsbildung, Nr. 105. Bonn: BIBB
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Additional information
This research is part of the BIBB project «Skill demand change» in the research infrastructure stream «BIBB/BAuA Employment Survey at the Federal Institute of Vocational Education and Training. We thank participants of the BIBB/IAB-Task-Workshop 2010 in Nuremberg and two anonymous reviewers for excellent suggestions.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rohrbach-Schmidt, D., Tiemann, M. Mismatching and job tasks in Germany — rising over-qualification through polarization?. Empirical Res Voc Ed Train 3, 39–53 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03546497
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03546497