Educational Mismatch and Job Satisfaction in China

Educational mismatch has become a growing concern in many countries. Using the 2014 China Labor force Dynamic Survey (CLDS), this paper examines the effect of educational mismatch on labor market outcomes such as wage level and workers' subjective job satisfaction. Moreover, this study explores the effective determinants of overor under-education in China. Three major findings are reported in this paper. First, it provides empirical evidence for educational mismatch in China. The data shows that 13 and 17 percent of Chinese workers are over- and under-educated, respectively, for current jobs. Second, empirical analyses of this study show some evidence of the effect of educational mismatch on labor market outcomes. While educational mismatch has no statistically significant impact on wage level, there exists a negative effect of over-education on workers' subjective job satisfaction. Third, workers' individual characteristics and job characteristics influences the occurrence of educational mismatch. The empirical results of this study show that gender, language skills, firm size and employment status are major sources of educational mismatch. This study contributes to the literature by providing new empirical evidence on the effect of educational mismatch in China. It sheds more light on the issue of educational mismatch and provides important insights regarding labor market and educational policies.