• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.141-166
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• 2005

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the status of youth overeducation and to analyze the impact on the wage system, before and after the financial crisis. In this study, we adapt the following method; first, we investigate the year 1996 (before financial crisis) and year 2000 (after financial crisis) data from "the Survey Report on the Wage structure", based on the data from "the Occupational Dictionary" by occupation group. So we could evaluate the difference between the youth over-educational status, before and after financial crisis. Second, we analyze the reason why the difference occurs, with financial crisis dummy variable and other variables such as sex, occupation, industry. Third, we try to find the difference between the impact of the overeducation on the wage rate, before and after financial crisis. The main findings are as follows; first, the degree of overeducation in year 2000 is more than in year 1996. So the financial crisis plays the important role in deepening the degree of overeducation. Second, the wage rate of the overeducated worker is higher than that of the required-educated worker. Also, the both wage rates are increased after financial crisis. However, the difference of both wage rates' has declined over the financial crisis. Such a finding means that even though the both wage rates of the overeducated and the required-educated worker are increased, the wage rate of the required-educated worker has increased much more than that of overeducated worker, after the financial crisis.

• Journal of Labour Economics
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• v.28 no.3
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• pp.1-37
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• 2005

This article examines the reasons for the observed discrepancy between worker's actual and required levels of schooling and the resulting economic effects in wage and labor mobility using KRIVET's Graduates Economic Activities Survey in 2005. Overeducated workers in Korea are estimated to be 10.1%-20.7% among junior college graduates and 18.8% among university graduates for their first job according to job analysis method and worker's self-assessment method each. The effects of school quality-measured by the student/teacher ratio, school building area/student ratio-on the overeducation of their graduates are found to be mostly insignificant not only junior colleges but also universities. This founding implies that the increase of education investment from schools does not acquire any recognition from the labor market. Also, the effects of overeducation and school quality on wages are found to be insignificant and job mobility has little effects on improving overeducated workers' job match.