Educational mismatch and spatial flexibility in Italian local labour markets

Abstract

According to recent literature, this paper highlights the relevance of spatial mobility as an explanatory factor of the individual risk of job-education mismatch. To investigate this causal link we use individual information about daily home-to-work commuting time and choices to relocate in a different local area to get a job. Our model takes into account relevant local labour markets features. We control for selective access to employment and test for endogeneity of spatial mobility. Results show a negative impact of commuting time on educational mismatch for upper-secondary graduates, as well as a negative impact of migration/migration distance for university graduates

Job Accessibility, Employment and Job-Education Mismatch in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona

“…The choice of these variables as determinants of car availability is in line with the general literature on car ownership (Matas et al 2009). Moreover, household-related variables (such as housing tenure and mortgage payment) have been previously used as exclusion restrictions in similar studies (see, for example, Devillanova, 2013 andCroce &Ghignoni, 2013). In addition, the system's identification is reinforced by the fact that a) we include dummies for tertiary education in the mismatch equation…”

“…In doing so, we will face two main econometric problems. First, given that job-education mismatch can be observed only among employed individuals, the job-education mismatch equation should be estimated on the condition of sample-selection based on unobservable factors that affect both employment decisions and job quality (following Büchel & Van Ham, 2003, Jauhiainen, 2011, Rubb, 2011, Devillanova, 2013, Sanromà & Ramos 2013and Croce & Ghignoni, 2013. Second, we consider private transport availability to represent a potential determinant of both employment and job-education mismatch, which is also likely to be related with unobservable factors that affect these two labour market outcomes (as noted by Raphael & Rice 2002, Gurley & Bruce 2005, Baum 2009, Bansak et al, 2010.…”

“…In other words, increased job accessibility should reduce the risk of ϱ being overeducated in urban labour markets. Since the seminal study by Büchel & van Ham (2003), a growing number of papers have been concerned with the role played by spatial flexibility in explaining employment probabilities and the propensity to become overeducated, which represents a specific case of having a low quality job (see Hensen, 2009 for the Netherlands, Jauhiainen, 2011 for Finland, Huber, 2012 for several EU countries, Iammarino & Martinelli, 2012, Devillanova, 2013and Croce & Ghignoni, 2013for Italy, and Ramos & Sanromà, 2013 for Spain). The general lesson that can be derived from these papers 3 is that fostering spatial flexibility (especially in terms of commuting or private transport accessibility to the workplace) is beneficial for employment and, in general, reduces the probability of suffering some kind of job-education mismatch.…”

“…Notice that local labour market characteristics and residential segregation might represent another potential confounding factor, especially regarding the impact of public transport accessibility (which varies at the local level) on car availability, employment and mismatch. Although relying only on the metropolitan area of Barcelona would implicitly reduce the extent of labour market heterogeneity (possibly correlated with our measure of public transport accessibility), we also included in our empirical analysis the local unemployment rate (defined at census tract level 10 ) as a proxy for neighbourhood effects (as in Büchel & van Ham, 2003, Hensen et al, 2009, Jauhiainen, 2010, Matas et al, 2010, Croce & Ghignoni, 2013 Sanromà, 2013 among others).…”

On the links between spatial variables and overeducation

“…Devillanova (2013) concludes that commuting has a negative impact on the probability of being overeducated, but he does not find clear evidence that migration has a similar effect. In turn, Croce and Ghignoni (2015) find that commuting time reduces the risk of overeducation for upper secondary graduates but is not significant for their tertiary counterparts, with the opposite being true for the migration variable.…”