Publication type
Research Paper
Series Number
18518
Series
IZA Discussion Papers
Authors
Publication date
April 15, 2026
Summary:
This research improves our understanding of overeducation by highlighting its risks among middle-educated workers, especially the specific risk that motherhood may pose for job mismatch among them, compared to highly educated women. It employs random-effects and Heckman selection models with Mundlak correctors on 14 waves of the United Kingdom Household Longitudinal Survey (UKHLS) to explore the relationship between overeducation, gender, and parenthood among middle- and highly educated employees. Overall, women are found to have a lower risk of overeducation compared to men. However, becoming a mother and having more children negatively impact the status of middle-educated women in comparison to both male workers and highly educated women. Characteristics of the labour market positions held by middle-educated workers (such as part-time employment), family circumstances like single motherhood, and their partners’ education and gender egalitarian values do not explain the higher risk of job mismatch that motherhood poses for female workers. Nevertheless, additional evidence from the European Jobs and Skills Survey (2021) shows that jobs held by middle-educated individuals offer less job discretion than those held by highly educated workers. This lack of discretion may hinder the development of firm-specific or occupational skills that would enable women to maintain or enhance their job status after becoming mothers or having additional children.
ISSN
23659793
Subjects
Link
https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp18518.html
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