Overqualification, Skills and Job Satisfaction. Insights on Canadian Society

Based on a self-reported measure of overqualification, this article examines the association between overqualification and skills among workers aged 25 to 64 with a university degree, using data from the 2012 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). This article also...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInsights on Canadian society
Main Authors LaRochelle-Côté, Sébastien, Hango, Darcy
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Statistics Canada 14.09.2016
Subjects
Adults
Age Differences
Attitude Measures
College Graduates
Educational Attainment
Employment Qualifications
Family Environment
Family Structure
Foreign Countries
Gender Differences
Geographic Regions
Health
Individual Characteristics
Intellectual Disciplines
Job Satisfaction
Job Skills
Language Usage
Literacy
Minority Groups
Numeracy
Parent Background
Surveys
Canada
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Summary:Based on a self-reported measure of overqualification, this article examines the association between overqualification and skills among workers aged 25 to 64 with a university degree, using data from the 2012 Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). This article also examines the extent to which overqualified workers are dissatisfied with their jobs. Overqualified workers are defined in this study as university-educated workers who reported that they were in a job requiring no more than a high school education. Some highlights of findings from the study include: (1) In 2012, about 12% of workers aged 25 to 64 with a university degree reported that they were working in a job that did not require more than a high school education (i.e., they were "overqualified"). Another 19% said that their job required a college education, while 69% said that their job required a university education; (2) Among overqualified university graduates aged 25 to 64, 47% had lower literacy skills and 54% had lower numeracy skills; (3) The factors associated with overqualification are not necessarily the same for lower-skilled and higherskilled university graduates; (4) Overqualified university graduates use fewer skills in the workplace; and (5) After accounting for other factors that are related to job satisfaction, about 13% of overqualified university graduates were not satisfied with their job in 2012. This compared with 3% for those who were in a university-level position.
ISSN:2291-0840
2291-0840