Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Humburg Martin 
Author-Name: Grip Andries de
Author-Name: Velden Rolf van der
Author-workplace-name: ROA rm
Title: Which skills protect graduates against a slack labour market?
Abstract: This paper explores the relationship between graduates’ skill levels and the risk ofovereducation and unemployment in 17 European countries. We distinguish betweenfield-specific and general skills and between two labour market segments, theoccupational domain of a particular field of study and the labour market segmentwhich requires general skills. In line with the predictions of the crowding out hypothesis,we find that the level of protection afforded by field-specific skills against the risk ofovereducation increases with the degree of excess labour supply in the occupationaldomain of the graduate’s field of study. Conversely, general skills offer more protectionagainst the risk of overeducation when excess labour supply in the labour marketsegment which requires general skills is higher. Field-specific skills also protect graduatesagainst the risk of unemployment, whereas graduates’ level of general skills appears tobe unrelated to the risk of becoming unemployed.
Keywords: education, training and the labour market; 
Series: Research Memoranda
Creation-Date: 2012
Number: 001
File-URL: http://digitalarchive.maastrichtuniversity.nl/fedora/objects/guid:ad8eed37-5e10-454c-801b-48cca56811fb/datastreams/ASSET1/content
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 347031
Handle: RePEc:unm:umaror:2012001