The brain waste in Italy: quantification and characteristics of over-qualified employment

Abstract

Overqualification describes an employment situation where an employee's education exceeds job requirements. This mismatch between acquired skills and and what is necessary to perform a certain occupation is an important indicator of labour market inefficiencies, with potential repercussions both at the individual level (in terms of job satisfaction, motivation and professional development) and at the collective level (in terms of optimal utilisation of human capital). The analysis is based on the data made available by the 2021 edition of the Permanent Population and Housing Census, which will be compared with those from the 2011 General population Census in order to provide an evolutionary picture of the phenomenon over the decade considered. The study aims to capture the changes that have taken place from a quantitative perspective, i.e. in terms of the incidence and distribution of overqualified employment, also with reference to the socio-demographic characteristics of the people involved. For a more detailed understanding of the issue, specific indicators have been developed to describe its incidence in relation to gender, age and citizenship. The analysis have been carried out with a high geographical detail, down to the NUTS3 level, in order to detect any local inequalities to also support the definition of targeted policies on the territory.