An Analysis of Educational Mismatch and Labor Mobility in the Hospitality Industry

Abstract

The aims of this article are to analyze the determinants of educational mismatch and worker mobility across occupations and firms in the hospitality industry. The educational mismatch is measured comparing the worker's maximum level of attained education and the educational level needed to perform his or her job. A representative survey of 3,314 employees and 302 employers in 181 hotels and 121 restaurants with 8 employees or more was utilized to this end. The econometric analyses suggest that workers can compensate for their shortfall in education with greater amounts of working experience; however, surplus education cannot substitute for tenure and on-the-job training. Likewise, educational mismatch has no impact on labor mobility. However, other factors influence internal and external turnover.

Gender wage inequality and labour mobility in the hospitality sector

“…In addition, real educational mismatch has a limited effect on the probability of changing jobs within the firm. This result is in line with previous literature, which found no evidence to suggest that overeducated workers obtain better jobs in other establishments or that either gender benefits from promotion ladders within internal labour markets (Marchante et al, 2007). Thus, entry positions do not serve as first step in the workers' future career within this sector.…”

“…In fact, external mobility among women does not have a positive effect on rewards. These results are in line with those obtained by Marchante et al (2007) for the Spanish hospitality sector. They found that the most important reason workers changed firms was to improve their working conditions (61% of total quits) rather than to raise their wages (23% of the total quits).…”

“…Marchante et al (2007) pointed out that Spanish hospitality workers are mainly characterized by interfirm turnover (81%, voluntary plus involuntary turnover), rather than by intrafirm turnover (31%). These figures are in line with the predictions of the skill model of the weak internal labour market presented by Riley (1997).…”

“…However, male and female workers present different patterns, which may reinforce horizontal and vertical segregation (Jordan, 1997). Men focus on earning higher wages more than women and use external mobility to achieve this aim, whereas women mainly focus on their labour conditions in the same firm (Marchante et al, 2007).…”

“…On the other hand, much of the tourism workforce is female, includes occupations that are almost exclusively held by women, and is characterised by low labour mobility (Marchante et al, 2007), a high degree of occupational segregation (Campos-Soria et al, 2011), and a high degree of gender wage discrimination (Campos-Soria et al, 2009;García-Pozo et al, 2014). According to García-Pozo et al (2014), the impact of gender on wages is very important in the hospitality industry, as shown by the fact that there is a 13.38% wage penalty for female workers compared to male workers.…”