Research On The Impact Of Overeducation On Employment Quality Of Workers

“Education and employment is the foundation of people’s livelihood”,in other words,developing education and improving employment quality are crucial to national economic development and social stability.Since the reform and open-up policy,China’s education has developed rapidly,and great achievements have been made in both quantity and quality at all stages of education.However,while the expansion of education improves the education level of workers,the problem of overeducation is also increasingly prominent.It profoundly impacts wages,job satisfaction,employment stability and career development of workers,and becomes a key obstacle to high-quality employment.On the basis of international and domestic research,this dissertation firstly systematically combs and discriminates the related concepts of overeducation and employment quality.And,it defines the connotation of overeducation from the micro level,and measures the employment quality of workers from four aspects,namely the objective index of wages and occupational mobility,as well as the subjective index of job satisfaction and turnover intention.Combined with the related theories of overeducation and the characteristics of China’s labor market,this dissertation then constructs a theoretical analysis framework of the impact of overeducation on employment quality of workers from the interdisciplinary perspective,and systematically expounds the theoretical mechanism and ways of the impact of overeducation on employment quality of workers.Finally,this dissertation empirically tests the impact of overeducation on workers’ employment quality and its mechanism using the micro data of “Chinese Family Panel Studies(CFPS)” from2014 to 2018 and “Chinese General Social Survey(CGSS)” in 2015.The main conclusions of this dissertation are as follows.First,Overeducation has a significant penalty effect on wages of workers,i.e.,overeducated workers earn less than equally educated ones who are adequately matched to their jobs.But even with the wage-penalty effect,the return on overeducation remains positive.That is,overeducation has the characteristics of reducing individual productivity and increasing job productivity,and the assignment theory is more applicable in explaining the wage effect of overeducation in China.The wage-penalty effect of overeducation is also different among different types of workers.Specifically,highly educated workers and male workers suffer greater wage penalties when overeducated,and the wages of those who with labor contract and white-collar workers are also more impacted by overeducation.Further analysis indicates that the wage-penalty effect of overeducation shows an upward trend in the wage distribution,and the unexplained coefficient difference is the main reason for the wage difference between overeducated workers and adequately matched workers.Second,Overeducation has a significant negative impact on job satisfaction of workers,i.e.,the job satisfaction of overeducated workers is significantly lower than that of equally educated ones who are adequately matched to their jobs.Besides the direct impact,overeducation also has an indirect impact on job satisfaction of workers through reducing wages and optimistic expectation.Overeducation has a negative impact on job satisfaction of workers in different dimensions,and has a significant impact on satisfaction with pay,job security and work environment of workers.Further analysis indicates that social comparison,whether it is measured by subjective economic status or social status,plays a significant moderating role in the relationship between overeducation and job satisfaction.Third,Overeducation significantly increases the turnover intention of workers,i.e.,the turnover intention of overeducated workers is significantly higher than that of equally educated ones who are adequately matched to their jobs.Besides the direct impact,overeducation also has an indirect impact on turnover intention by reducing job satisfaction and increasing unemployment anxiety.Further analysis indicates that overeducation does not increase workers’ opportunities of on-the-job training,nor does it make workers feel more employment opportunities.So,increasing training opportunities and perceived opportunities are not the channels of overeducation on turnover intention of workers.Fourth,Overeducation has a significant positive impact on changing jobs of workers,i.e.,the probability of changing jobs of overeducated workers is significantly higher than that of equally educated ones who are adequately matched to their jobs.However,overeducation does not help workers to achieve upward occupational mobility,and is persistent,that is,overeducation has a trap effect.Further analysis indicates that overeducation can help workers move to the job with higher education level compared to ones who are adequately matched in the same occupation,but it still has no significant impact on the relative wage growth of workers,and has a significant positive impact on the persistence of overeducation.In summary,both theoretical analysis and empirical results show that overeducation will reduce workers’ wages and job satisfaction,increase workers’ turnover intention and the possibility of changing jobs,does not help workers move to better jobs and has a trap effect.These are contrary to the connotation of high-quality employment of workers,meaning that overeducation will reduce the employment quality of workers in general,that is,overeducation has a negative impact on the employment quality of workers.On the basis of theoretical analysis and empirical results,this dissertation systematically studies the impact of overeducation on employment quality of workers.In theory,it makes up for the weakness of domestic researches concerning the problem of overeducation,and opens the “black box” of the relationship between overeducation and employment quality.And in practice,it can provide decision-making basis and experience for the government and schools to deepen reforms,for the enterprises to optimize the allocation of human capital,and for the individuals to rationally invest in education,choose and take up jobs.