Abstract
In this study, we used 2020 data from the Panel Study of Chinese University Students to explore the impact of over-education on new graduates’ job satisfaction from a gender perspective. The results indicate that first, female graduates are more likely to be over-educated from an objective standpoint, while male graduates are more likely to think subjectively that they are over-educated. Second, over-educated female graduates have higher levels of job satisfaction than not over-educated ones, but this correlation is not significant for male graduates. Third, subjective awareness of over-education reduces levels of job satisfaction for both female and male graduates. Our research shows that gender segregation remains in the current employment structure in China. Female graduates are more likely than male graduates to enter traditional industries with low requirements and are objectively more likely to be over-educated, and thus they are more competent and have higher satisfaction in their jobs.
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Notes
Wage penalties refer to the situation in which the growth of the payment cannot compensate for the additional values brought by the surplus of degree, or the overeducated obtain less than the matched (Groot & van den Brink, 2000).
According to Burris (1983), though General Educational Development (GED) is not originally established as a summary measure of the required levels of education, it is the “closest approximation of such a measure currently available and has been widely used for this purpose”.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by the National Social Science Fund of China under Grant No. 20BSH026, the National Social Science Fund of China under Grant No. 20BRK040, and the National Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. 71921003. Direct all correspondence to Wei Guo, Department of Social Work and Social Policy, School of Social and Behavioral Sciences, Nan**g University, Nan**g, Jiangsu Province, 210023, P. R. China, email: weiguo@nju.edu.cn.
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Shi, Y., Yu, H., Huang, Y. et al. Over-education and Job Satisfaction among New Graduates in China: A Gender Perspective. Soc Indic Res 170, 51–74 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-022-03038-w
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11205-022-03038-w