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Overqualification signals a mismatch between jobs' educational requirements and workers' qualifications implying potential productivity losses at the macro and the micro level. This study explores how the family background of German graduates affects the probability to hold a job that does not require tertiary education, i.e. to be overqualified. Potential pathways of the family background effects are discussed and proxy variables for the mediating factors ability and skills, study characteristics, social capital, financial capital, and aspiration are incorporated into the empirical analysis. Graduates from high status families are found to be less likely to be overqualified. The unconditional social overqualification gap amounts to 7.4 percentage points. Blinder-Oaxaca decompositions of the overqualification gap show that differences in ability and skills, study characteristics, and social capital are important mediators of the family background effects.

Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. Non-technical summaryThe mismatch between workers' supply of skills and demand for skills in the labour market is at the forefront of the policy debate in European countries. On the one hand, the education sector is heavily subsidised in Germany and other European countries. Particularly, tertiary education expanded in the last decade with an increase in public investment. In the context of strong public budget constraints, this gives rise to concerns of a possible overinvestment in education resulting in an oversupply of skills. On the other hand, firms claim that they increasingly face difficulties in filling their vacancies because of a lack of sufficiently qualified labour force. The effectiveness of higher education in producing adequately skilled graduates thus represents a concern for many economic actors.In this study, we provide a conceptual underpinning of the possible explanations of job-worker mismatch and its implication for different actors in the economy. We define mismatch distinguishing between the perspective of the employee, the employer and the overall economy. From the overall economy and the employer perspective, optimality of a job match hinges on productivity, while what matters for employees is the utility associated to a job. The empirical literature generally employs two kinds of concepts for identifying job-worker mismatches. Qualification mismatch occurs if the level of formal education a worker possesses deviates from the one required for the job; skill mismatch occurs if the worker possesses a higher or lower level of skills than required to perform the job. This study provides an overview of measures and empirical findings concerning these concepts.Focusing on German graduates, we examine the incidence and direct consequences of job mismatch employing measures from three different datasets. The rate of overqualification and skill mismatch is found to differ strongly between fields of study, type of university and gender. Information about job requirements and the worker's level in jobrelevant competences are employed to infer skill surpluses and deficits among graduates in more detail.Additionally, we investigate to what extent jobs of overqualified or skill mismatched graduates are different from jobs held by matched graduates. The results indicate that jobs of matched graduates exhibit higher complexity and creativity requirements while being less monotone than jobs of mismatched graduates. The highest differences in these job c...

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Die Dis cus si on Pape rs die nen einer mög lichst schnel len Ver brei tung von neue ren For schungs arbei ten des ZEW. Die Bei trä ge lie gen in allei ni ger Ver ant wor tung der Auto ren und stel len nicht not wen di ger wei se die Mei nung des ZEW dar.Dis cus si on Papers are inten ded to make results of ZEW research prompt ly avai la ble to other eco no mists in order to encou ra ge dis cus si on and sug gesti ons for revi si ons. The aut hors are sole ly respon si ble for the con tents which do not neces sa ri ly repre sent the opi ni on of the ZEW. Non-technical summaryIn 2006, on average 43% of the firms in the EU-15 practiced IT outsourcing (ITO).The determinants of ITO as well as firms' incentives to source out non-core activities have been examined extensively. As summarised by Lacity et al. (2010), the most important motive for ITO is "the desire to reduce cost on a non-core IT activity better provided by suppliers with superior skills, expertise, and technical capabilities".Less research focused on the impact of ITO on firm performance.In this study, we analyse whether ITO increases a firm's probability of realising product or process innovations due to setting free resources that can be redirected to core competencies such as innovation activity. For our empirical analysis, we use two waves of the ZEW ICT survey, 2007 and 2010, comprising 1453 firms from the manufacturing and the services sector in Germany. The data set allows to employ different measures of ITO taking into account that the degree of outsourcing might matter and that there might be nonlinear relationships between ITO and innovation activity. By splitting our estimation sample in manufacturing and services firms we furthermore explore whether the impact of ITO on innovation activity differs between manufacturing and services firms given the fact that business processes are generally more IT intensive in services firms.The econometric probit analysis shows a significant and U-shaped relationship between ITO and the product innovation activity of manufacturing firms. In the service sector, by contrast, we find a significant and hump-shaped relationship between ITO and the realisation of process innovation. Applying a propensity score matching approach takes account of potential reverse causality between ITO and innovation; the results underpin the importance of ITO for services firms' realisation of process innovation. Using different measures of IT outsourcing (ITO), the econometric estimations reveal a significant and U-shaped relationship between ITO and product innovation activity of manufacturing firms, and a significant and hump-shaped relationship between ITO and process innovation activity of services firms. Das Wichtigste in KürzeA propensity score matching analysis takes account of reverse causality; the results underpin the relevance of ITO for services firms' realisation of process innovation.. JEL codes: D22, L23, O31