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Using a matching framework and high-quality administrative longitudinal and survey data, we evaluate the effectiveness of a second-chance education opportunity scheme, the Back to Education Allowance (BTEA), in assisting jobseekers to find employment on completion of their course. The results from two separate datasets indicate that BTEA scheme participation had large negative consequences for subsequent employment transitions. Further analysis revealed the negative impacts are likely to be related to flaws in the BTEA scheme framework rather than deficits in the quality of the education received. These results hold when tested against the influences of sample selection and unobserved heterogeneity bias.

Using a unique European dataset for graduates, this paper examines the determinants of college satisfaction and investigates the relative importance of human capital, course composition, and subsequent employment outcomes. We find that aspects of the degree programme related to the mode of teaching and personal development were considerably more important in determining college satisfaction, relative to the field of study, or the subsequent jobs that they obtained. Our results highlight that practical learning approaches and an experience that enhances non-cognitive personal development (NCPD) are some of the course attributes most valued by students retrospectively. Therefore, universities can enhance the quality of student experiences, and also equip them with aspects of human capital allowing them to prosper within the labour market, with an increased focus on both applied learning experiences and non-cognitive personal development.

This paper investigates the occurrence and nature of barriers to social inclusion in distinct geographical settings. Utilising a unique administrative dataset from Ireland's dominant social inclusion programme, this study examines how location impacts the occurrence of these barriersat a small-area level. Ireland's high growth rates have raised concerns about uneven effects, making it an interesting case study for 'left behind' places. The findings reveal that barriers associated with social inclusion, related to economic participation, are more prevalent in ' independent urban towns ' compared to both more urban and more rural areas, over and above area-level deprivation. This implies that existing policies, which traditionally employs a simplistic urban/rural dichotomy, lacks effective targeting, and would benefit from adopting a more precise spatial perspective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current levels of youth unemployment need to be understood in the context of increased labor market flexibility, an expansion of higher education, youth migration, and family legacies of long-term unemployment. Compared with previous recessions, European-wide policies and investments have significantly increased with attempts to support national policies. By mapping these developments and debates, we illustrate the different factors shaping the future of European labor markets. We argue that understanding youth unemployment requires a holistic approach that combines an analysis of changes in the economic sphere around labor market flexibility, skills attainment, and employer demand, as well as understanding the impact of family legacies affecting increasingly polarized trajectories for young people today. The success of EU policy initiatives and investments will be shaped by the ability of national actors to implement these effectively.

This article assesses the extent to which the impact of overeducation and overskilling on labour market outcomes such as earnings and job satisfaction relate to mismatches in particular competency areas. The analysis uses REFLEX data, which collects information about 19 key competence areas related to job performance. We find that the penalties to both forms of mismatch are insensitive to the inclusion of controls for overskilling in a wide range of job-specific competencies. The research suggests that the problem of mismatch relates to an inability to fully utilise general or innate ability as opposed to specific areas of acquired learning. We conclude that the problem of mismatch can only be effectively addressed by raising general levels of job quality within developed labour markets.

This paper uses panel data and econometric methods to estimate the incidence and the dynamic properties of overskilling among employed individuals. The paper begins by asking whether there is extensive overskilling in the labour market, and whether overskilling differs by education pathway. The answer to both questions is yes. The paper continues by asking whether overskilling is a self-perpetuating labour market state (state dependence), and whether state dependence differs by education pathway. Overskilled workers with a higher degree show the highest state dependence, while workers with vocational education show none. Workers with no post-school qualifications are somewhere between these two groups. The finding that higher degree graduates suffer the greatest overskilling state dependence, combined with the well-established finding that they also suffer the highest overskilling wage penalty, suggests that the cost of mismatch among this grouping are greater relative to vocationally qualified workers. (Contains 6 tables.)

Many young people have short spells of unemployment during their transition from school to work; however, some often get trapped in unemployment and risk becoming long-term unemployed. Much research has been undertaken on the factors that influence unemployment risk for young people during their school-to-work transition. However, very little is known about the factors associated with long-term unemployment (LTU) risk for those youths who become unemployed. This article attempts to fill this gap in the literature by identifying the characteristics associated with young peoples' LTU risk in Ireland. The research, which is conducted using multivariate statistical analysis, uses a combination of unemployment register data and information gathered from a specially designed claimant questionnaire that was issued to all jobseekers making an unemployment benefit claim between September and December 2006. The results indicate that factors such as a recent history of LTU, a lack of basic literacy/numeracy skills and low levels of educational attainment, all have a significant impact on the likelihood that young people will remain unemployed for 12 months or more. A number of attributes are gender-specific, such as the presence of children, additional welfare benefits and spousal earnings for females and apprenticeship training and participation in a public sector job creation scheme for males. Comparisons with the characteristics associated with older welfare claimants LTU risk reveal some interesting difference between younger and older unemployed individuals. (Contains 3 figures, 6 tables and 24 notes.)

There is much disagreement in the literature over the extent to which graduates are mismatched in the labour market and the reasons for this. In this paper we utilise the Flexible Professional in the Knowledge Society (REFLEX) data set to cast light on these issues, based on data for UK graduates. We find substantial pay penalties for overeducation for both sexes and for overskilling in the case of men only. When both education and skill mismatch variables are included together in the model only overskilling reduces job satisfaction consistently for both sexes. Using job attributes data it appears that the lower wages of the overqualified may in part simply represent a compensating wage differential for positive job attributes, while for men at least there are real costs to being overskilled. (Contains 6 tables.)

The present paper uses British Household Panel Survey data from 1991 to 2002 to assess the extent to which labour market returns have been influenced by changes in the nature of educational supply. We find that whilst there have been substantial shifts in the returns to schooling over the period, these effects are much more pronounced for younger workers. The most notable change was the complete elimination of the premium for GCSE's over no qualifications for both males and females under 30 years old and the fall in the returns to vocational degrees for young males. The disappearance of the GCSE premium, which, it is argued, is linked to a rising demand for low-qualified workers, was found to temper the rise in inequality, while the rise in educational participation was found to substantially increase male graduate wage dispersion. (Contains 14 notes, 13 tables and 2 figures.)

This paper exploits the homogeneity of data from a cohort of Northern Ireland graduates to explore the extent to which both the incidence and impacts of overeducation are specific to individuals of particular ability levels as proxied by their position within the graduate wage distribution. It was found that whilst the incidence of overeducation was heavily concentrated within low-ability segments of both the male and female graduate wage distributions, it was by no means exclusive to them. Using quantile regression techniques it was found that, relative to their well-matched counterparts, low-and mid-ability overeducated male graduates earned substantially less. However, the impacts of overeducation were found to be much more pervasive and constant throughout the entirety of the female ability (wage) distribution. The results provide only partial support for the hypothesis linking overeducation with lower levels of ability.

We evaluate the impact of a reduction in the child qualifying age for the One-Parent Family Payment in Ireland. From 2012 to 2015, the child qualifying age was reduced from 18 to 7 years. Lone parents who no longer qualified for the payment, based on the age of their child, could avail of Jobseekers Transitional Payment, which involves a labour activation component. The reforms led to an increase in the average hours worked of lone parents of between 2 and 5 h per week. Lone parents impacted by the policy were 13 percentage points more likely to be working. In addition, we find an increase in household income of between 9% and 12%, and an increase of between 23% and 29% in earnings from employment. Finally, the policy was associated with a 10–14 percentage point reduction in the poverty rate of lone parents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We use data from a new international dataset – the European Skills and Jobs Survey – to create a unique measure of skills-displacing technological change (SDT), defined as technological change that may render workers' skills obsolete. We find that 16 percent of adult workers in the EU are impacted by SDT, with significant variance across countries, ranging from a high of 28 percent in Estonia, to below seven percent in Bulgaria. Despite claims that technological change contributes to the deskilling of jobs, we present evidence that SDT is associated with dynamic upskilling of workers. The paper also presents the first direct micro-evidence, based on worker survey responses, of the reinstatement effect of automating technology, namely a positive contribution of automation to the task content and skills complexity of the jobs of incumbent workers. Despite the recent focus on the polarising impact of automation and associated reskilling needs of lower-skilled individuals, our evidence also draws attention to the fact that SDT predominantly affects higher-skilled workers, reinforcing inequalities in upskilling opportunities within workplaces. Workers affected by SDT also experience greater job insecurity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Young people have been hit hard by unemployment during the Irish recession. While much research has been undertaken to study the effects of the recession on overall labour market dynamics, little is known about the specific effects on youth unemployment and the associated challenges. This paper attempts to fill this gap by comparing the profile of transitions to work before the recession (2006) and as the economy began to emerge from the recession (2011). The results indicate that the rate of transition of young people from unemployment to employment fell dramatically. The fall is not due to changes in the composition or the characteristics of the unemployed group but to changes in the external environment. These changes imply that the impact of certain individual characteristics changed over the course of the recession. In particular, for youth, education and nationality have become more important for finding a job in Ireland. Comparative Economic Studies (2014) 56, 616-634. published online 25 September 2014 doi: 10.1057/ces.2014.23 published online 18 September 2014 Keywords: youth unemployment, transitions, decomposition techniques, longitudinal data, Great Recession, Ireland JEL Classification: J60, J64, J68, INTRODUCTION The severity of the Great Recession on young people's labour market status has been well documented, particularly in the most affected countries. Ireland was severely hit, as illustrated by [...]

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9957.2009.02136.x Byline: KOSTAS MAVROMARAS (1), SEAMUS MCGUINNESS (2), NIGEL O'LEARY (3), PETER SLOANE (4), YI KING FOK (5) Abstract: In this paper we examine the parallel trends in education and labour market developments in Australia and Britain using unique information on reported overskilling in the workplace. To a degree, the overskilling information overcomes the problem of unobserved ability differences and focuses on the actual job-employee mismatch more than the conventional overeducation variables can. The paper finds that the prevalence of overskilling decreases with education at least for Australia, but the wage penalty associated with overskilling increases with education. Although the prevalence of overskilling differs between Australia and Britain, the pattern of the wage penalties is fairly similar in both countries. Author Affiliation: (1)University of Melbourne and IZA, Bonn (2)Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin (3)Swansea University (4)Swansea University and IZA, Bonn (5)University of Melbourne

To authenticate to the full-text of this article, please visit this link: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4932.2008.00529.x Byline: KOSTAS MAVROMARAS (1), SEAMUS MCGUINNESS (2), YIN KING FOK (3) Keywords: J24; J31 Abstract: This paper examines the incidence and wage effects of overskilling in Australia. It finds that approximately 30 per cent of employees believed themselves to be moderately overskilled and 11 per cent believed themselves to be severely overskilled. The incidence of skills mismatch varied little when the sample was split by education. After controlling for individual and job characteristics as well as the potential bias arising from individual unobserved heterogeneity, severely overskilled workers suffer an average wage penalty of 10.2 per cent with the penalty ranging from about 6 per cent among vocationally qualified employees to just less than 20 per cent for graduates. Author Affiliation: (1)Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia and Institut zur Zukunft der Arbeit (IZA), Bonn, Germany (2)Economic and Social Research Institute, Dublin, Republic of Ireland (3)Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia Article note: Correspondence: Kostas Mavromaras, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, University of Melbourne, Vic. 3010, Australia. Email: k.mavromaras@unimelb.edu.au