Introduction
The growing cost of college education has raised debates about how viable a college degree is. These debates are further fueled by required knowledge and skill sets required for current job market. Given current unemployment rates (coming in heel of an unprecedented economic recession), investment in college education has not only become a financial burden long after graduation but is also becoming, critically, less rewarding from a job prospect perspective. Indeed, "overeducated" college graduates – particularly ones completing an undergraduate or a higher degree in software engineering or digital media majors – are experiencing particularly painful job experiences, particularly during early entry phases, as occupied jobs do not appear to match educational experiences (let alone financial burdens incurred by parents partially or in full) gained at college. The case for mismatch between college education and employment opportunities and prospects assumes different shapes in current job market situation. In addition to overeducation / overskilling, underemployment (a distinct form of overeducation / overskilling), vocation-based jobs and entrepreneurial startups are forms of education-job mismatch which increasingly bring into intense critical light viability of college education as a springboard for job market. This critical question is, moreover, informed by deeper changes in perceptions to and practices of education and employment respectively. Notably, increasing adoption of ICT innovations into business has made requirements for specific functions particularly higher and demanding. Paradoxically, if a college education at a prestigious university appears to be offering high quality candidates for job market, growing dynamism of current business practices and an emphasis on practicality and "rolling up sleeves" makes college graduates, particularly fresh ones, helpless in light of lack of adequate practical experience. To better explore viability of university education in current job market, a closer analysis of education and employment patterns. In so doing, specific patterns are explored for current purposes. This paper aims, hence, to appraise education and employment patterns in current job market ecosystem in order to argue against university education as proper preparation platform for job market.
This paper is made up of seven sections in addition to introduction: (1) Education-Job Match, (2) Overeducation / Overskilling, (3) Knowledge-Based Employment, (4) Underemployment, (5) Vocational Training, (6) Entrepreneurship and (7) Conclusion. The Education-Job Match section explores current gaps in education and job offerings. The Overeducation / Overskilling section explores a growing pattern of high skilled and educated university graduates who are either underemployed or unemployed in different countries. The Knowledge-Based Employment section explores a segment of job market characterized by differential payment offers in spite of possessing same or similar knowledge and skill sets. The Underemployment section explores underemployment as an emerging pattern of employment, particularly after 2008 economic crisis. The Vocational Training section focuses on vocation-based education particularly in Germany. The Entrepreneurship section discusses employment opportunities for university graduates in startup ventures. The Conclusion section wraps up argument and offers further insights.
The growing investment in education as opposed to dwindling job prospects calls into question potential, if not viability, of a university degree. This gap is, moreover, not consistent all along but is informed by job market offerings in different countries. For current purposes, North American and European contexts are explored.
In a North American context, specifically in Canada, a study using data from Follow-up of Graduates Survey – Class of 2000 shows education-job mismatch is determined more to education characteristics compared to demographic and socioeconomic characteristics.1 Further job prospects based on education characteristics are qualified by majors undertaken by graduates during college or by advanced degrees after graduation.2 Indeed, Canadian labor market – similar as is in many respects to U.S. labor market – is marked by irregularities, particularly in recent years, which render specific job categories particularly rewarding compared to others. Notably, "health sciences" and "education" categories are shown to be achieve highest match between education and job opportunities.3 This pattern puts university education investment under further pressure as a qualifier for job market. Given how college entry knowledge and skill sets vary among college students (for demographic and socioeconomic reasons), sound professional planning, let alone macroeconomic activity, requires broad education choices as well as job prospects beyond college education offering professional prospects for limited pools of job market entrants in boom-and-bust style.
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1. Boudarbat, Brahim, and Chernoff, Victor. "The Determinants of Education-Job Match Among Canadian University Graduates," abstract, Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (2010), Accessed April 23, 2016, doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1611764.
2. Ibid.
3. Ibid.
In a European context, education-job match is determined based on different criteria compared to North America. Notably, European job market is not homogenous and is differentiated based on geography. Specifically, university graduates in North and South Europe find difficulty in finding a first job after graduation based on major, socioeconomic background and individual job search.4 Notably, socioeconomic background appears to be a more important determinant of education-job match in Europe compared to North America. This discrepancy could be attributed to Europe's history of "classism". Therefore, in a European context, a fresh graduate job seeker is more likely to "land" a first job based on her (family) connections compared to a Canadian or U.S. job seeker. This does not mean, of course, Canadian or U.S. job seekers find jobs based on qualifications alone. The discrepancy is based, in fact, on broader propensities in each culture to hire inexperienced fresh graduates, regardless of major and, for that matter, education. Yet, in both cases education-job gaps for a fresh graduate job seeker are determined by major – a criterion which, again, limits prospects for individual applicants and narrows down economic activity at a macroeconomic level.
Thus, education-job gap experienced by fresh university graduates in different job markets are determined most significantly by major (in North America) and major and socioeconomic background in Europe. This gap can further be understood in more contextualized patters of overeducation, knowledge-based employment,
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4. Salas-Velasco, Manuel. "The transition from higher education to employment in Europe: the analysis of the time to obtain the first job," abstract, Higher Education 54 (2007): 333-360, accessed April 23, 2016, doi: 10.1007/s10734-006-9000-1.
underemployment, vocational training and entrepreneurship as shown in next sections.
Overeducation / Overskilling
Contrary to intuitive reasoning, overeducated / overskilled university graduates are shown to experience higher unemployment rates compared to less skilled graduates. Indeed, overeducated / overskilled university graduates – joining an organization, in case of employment, at higher entry level knowledge and skill sets – are apt to move higher on corporate ladder compared to less educated / skilled graduates.5 By exhibiting characteristic excellence in job mobility, overeducated / overskilled graduates are less appealing for employers seeking "reasonable" job mobility and, for one, proper compensation. Accordingly, overeducated / overskilled university graduates are either less incentivized to join an enterprise offering lower job prospects or, under severe economic pressure, accept jobs far below acquired knowledge and skill sets (aka "underemployment" discussed in next section).
The case for overeducation / overskilling is, in fact, reported widely in literature. If anything, reporting unemployment among overeducated / overskilled university graduates indicates structural imbalances in current job designs which, apparently, cannot cater for needs of more conventional worker sets and more educated and skilled university graduates. The span of unemployment in
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5. Sicherman, Nachum. ""Overeducation" in the Labor Market," abstract, Journal of Labor Economics 9 (1991): 101-122, accessed April 23, 2016, http://www.jstor.org/stable/2535236.
overeducated / overskilled graduate set is reported in economies as different as UK 6, Australia 7 and Spain 8, suggesting a common, globalized pattern of increasing irrelevance between education gained at college (and/or independently) and job market.
Thus, in experiencing a gap between education and job market offerings, pushing limits further beyond a first university degree (by acquiring more skills independently) and/or pursuing multiple degrees does not, as shown, guarantee a clear path in a career line as compared to more conventional employment practices, an observation which suggests current imbalances and, probably, calls for more different conceptualization and approach to both university education and employment.
Knowledge-Based Employment
The increasing outsourcing of jobs to crowd workers (a practice widely known as crowd workers) has been hailed as a new opportunity for new forms of jobs beyond conventional office-based jobs. By employing independent, high-skilled
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6. Dolton, Peter, and Vignoles, Anna. "The incidence and effects of overeducation in the U.K. graduate labour market," abstract, Economics of Education Review 19 (2000): 179–198, accessed April 23, 2016, doi: 10.1016/S0272-7757(97)00036-8.
7. Mavromaras, Kostas, McGuinness, Seamus, O'Leary, Nigel, Sloane, Peter, and Wei, Zhang. "Job Mismatches and Labour Market Outcomes: Panel Evidence on University Graduates," Economic Record 89 (2013): 382–395, accessed April 23, 2016, doi: 10.1111/1475-4932.12054.
8. Fernández, Cristina. "The Role of Education vis-a-vis Job Experience in Explaining the Transitions to Employment in the Spanish Youth Labour Market," abstract, Spanish Economic Review 8 (2006): 161-187, accessed April 23, 2016, doi: 10.1007/s10108-006-9001-3.
contractors from countries outside North America and Europe, software engineers and content editors are referred to as examples of how university education has helped create jobs for local graduates well beyond limited, low-skilled job opportunities at home. This argument is, in fact, flawed and dismisses a host of variables differentiating high-skilled, college educated workers in North America and Europe and comparable ones in developing countries, particularly China and India.
If anything, payment gap, employment stability and professional mobility are major factors influencing viability of independent, contracted work for workers in developing countries. For a university graduate viewed by peers, family and broader community as of better professional prospects, offering professional services on an independent, contracted basis in lieu of joining a presumably better paying job in local job market only attests to how university education in a local context is of little value in job market. This contradiction between degree-based education and employment opportunities is noted in literature and is shown to reflect deep changes in relationships between education, employment and labor market.9
Indeed, university education appears not to offer required skills for current job market. As shown, although fresh university graduates appear to have received "quality education" at college (as is widely hyped by universities and media), job market requires, apparently, more practical experience and specific skill sets not offered at even most prestigious universities. If anything, higher education (including vocational education as shown in next section) requires a holistic redesign in order to
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9. Brown, Philip, Hesketh, Anthony, and Wiliams, Sara. "Employability in a Knowledge-driven Economy," abstract, Journal of Education and Work 16 (2003): 107-126, accessed April 23, 2016, doi: 10.1080/1363908032000070648.
better cater for actual job market needs and, for one, educational and professional needs of a Millennial generation born into a digital revolution.
Underemployment
In recent years, particularly after recession, college-educated graduates have experienced one worst intergenerational unemployment patterns. Notably, a growing pattern of what has come to be referred to as "underemployment" has come to define employment experiences in recent years. By underemployment is meant working in jobs requiring knowledge base and skill sets not required by a college degree.10 This pattern does not only highlight how current education offerings in a university setting is catering less for actual job market needs and is becoming, unfortunately, more of a financial burden on students right after graduation.
In underemploying fresh graduates, a general job market climate is created as to minimize professional prospects and, over longer range, reduce work motivation. Needless to emphasize, morale and motivation are particularly important variables for productivity. In locking up "well-educate" and "high-skilled" university graduates in jobs far below acquired skills (or so is perceived by fresh graduates), university education – assumed to be an important springboard for better professional prospects – becomes a mere formality only pursued for social rather than professional purposes. Not least, by graduating university students into a job market
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10. Bernard, Tara Siegel. "A Brighter Job Market, for Some," The New York Times, April 8, 2016, accessed April 23, 2016, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/education/edlife/a-brighter-job-market-for-some.html.
geared into different knowledge bases and skill is not only a waste of human capital but also a waste of public money channeled into universities, particularly major ones.
Vocational Training
If education-job match is at crossroads for university education, vocational education is, paradoxically, experiencing similar challenges. The case for an education-job match is particularly interesting because vocational education is, by definition, one based on practical skills and is job-oriented. This education-job mismatch might have some justification in job markets laying more emphasis on university education more. Yet, in a country long known for a quality vocational education offering high-skilled graduates, an education-job mismatch is particularly conspicuous.
In Germany, around half of all Germans are shown, according to an industry-wide study, to have jobs matching vocational education received in one of Germany's apprenticeship programs.11 The study also examines whether graduates of vocational programs have job mobility of moving from one job not fitting her education into a fitting one.12 This pattern is, interestingly, similar to one noted above in university education, one suggesting a chronic mismatch between education received in an earlier academic phase and a later professional path. Then again, university or vocational education appears to experience further pressure on
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11. Witte, James C., and Kalleberg, Arne L. "Matching Training and Jobs: The Fit Between Vocational Education and Employment in the German Labour Market," abstract, European Sociological Review 11 (1995): 293-317, accessed April 23, 2016, http://esr.oxfordjournals.org/content/11/3/293.short.
12. Ibid.
academic offerings in order to match an increasingly dynamic job market.
Entrepreneurship
In an entrepreneurial context, fresh graduates willing to launch a startup are faced by different challenge sets. By bypassing conventional employer-employee contractual relations and opting for an independent project based on a business idea, university graduates are faced by a diversity challenge university education has not offered a preparation for. Specifically, venture capitalists responsible for funding startups appear to prefer specific age groups, ethnicities and social backgrounds in order to approve specific projects.13 This pattern emphasizes, if anything, current imbalances in both educational and job offerings particularly for minority graduates. True, diversity in current job market remains a challenge across different industries and at many levels. However, if university education cannot prepare students for a meaningful professional life, one is tempted to ask: what is university education for if not preparing students for growth opportunities at personal and professional levels?
Conclusion
The current job market landscape is exercising increasing pressure on university education. This pressure is manifest in education-job gaps across educational systems, geographical locations and socioeconomic backgrounds. The cases of knowledge-based work, vocational education and entrepreneurial projects
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13. Passariello, Christina. "Meet the Venture Capitalist Whom Venture Capitalists Love to Hate," The Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2016, accessed April 23, 2016, http://www.wsj.com/articles/meet-the-venture-capitalist-whom-venture-capitalists-love-to-hate-1461342860.
are particularly insightful of growing gaps between education offered at college and skills required in job market. If anything, current education offerings require more holistic reviews by all concerned stakeholders in order to close present education-job gaps. The ultimate goals of education and employment should be, moreover, re-appraised in light of recent demographic developments (manifest in changing learning habits of a Millennial generation) and employment practices (manifest in more flexible contractual offerings). Most critically, university role should change in response to rapid changes occurring both on campus and in job market.
Bibliography
Bernard, Tara Siegel. "A Brighter Job Market, for Some," The New York Times, April 8, 2016. Accessed April 23, 2016. http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/10/education/edlife/a-brighter-job-market-for-some.html.
Boudarbat, Brahim, and Chernoff, Victor. "The Determinants of Education-Job Match Among Canadian University Graduates," abstract, Center for Interuniversity Research and Analysis of Organizations (2010). Accessed April 23, 2016. doi: 10.2139/ssrn.1611764.
Brown, Philip, Hesketh, Anthony, and Wiliams, Sara. "Employability in a Knowledge-driven Economy," abstract, Journal of Education and Work 16 (2003): 107-126. Accessed April 23, 2016. doi: 10.1080/1363908032000070648.
Dolton, Peter, and Vignoles, Anna. "The incidence and effects of overeducation in the U.K. graduate labour market," abstract, Economics of Education Review 19 (2000): 179–198. Accessed April 23, 2016. doi: 10.1016/S0272-7757(97)00036-8.
Fernández, Cristina. "The Role of Education vis-a-vis Job Experience in Explaining the Transitions to Employment in the Spanish Youth Labour Market," abstract, Spanish Economic Review 8 (2006): 161-187. Accessed April 23, 2016. doi: 10.1007/s10108-006-9001-3.
Mavromaras, Kostas, McGuinness, Seamus, O'Leary, Nigel, Sloane, Peter, and Wei, Zhang. "Job Mismatches and Labour Market Outcomes: Panel Evidence on University Graduates," Economic Record 89 (2013): 382–395. Accessed April 23, 2016. doi: 10.1111/1475-4932.12054.
Passariello, Christina. "Meet the Venture Capitalist Whom Venture Capitalists Love to Hate," The Wall Street Journal, April 22, 2016. Accessed April 23, 2016. http://www.wsj.com/articles/meet-the-venture-capitalist-whom-venture-capitalists-love-to-hate-1461342860.
Salas-Velasco, Manuel. "The transition from higher education to employment in Europe: the analysis of the time to obtain the first job," abstract, Higher Education 54 (2007): 333-360. Accessed April 23, 2016. doi: 10.1007/s10734-006-9000-1.
Sicherman, Nachum. ""Overeducation" in the Labor Market," abstract, Journal of Labor Economics 9 (1991): 101-122. Accessed April 23, 2016. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2535236.
Witte, James C., and Kalleberg, Arne L. "Matching Training and Jobs: The Fit Between Vocational Education and Employment in the German Labour Market," abstract, European Sociological Review 11 (1995): 293-317. Accessed April 23, 2016. http://esr.oxfordjournals.org/content/11/3/293.short.
