A Review of Empirical Research on Vertical Mismatch and Field of Study Mismatch in Turkey and Additional Evidence from Their Overlapping Mismatch.

Abstract

The aim of this paper is two folds. First, we perform a review of empirical research that report the vertical mismatch and/or field of study mismatch in Turkey. Second, we provide additional evidence from two perspectives which are (i) change in vertical mismatch and field of study mismatch over time and (ii) their overlapping mismatch. Using dataset from Turkish Statistical Institute labor force surveys, we conduct our analyses for two separate target groups, namely vocational and technical high schools and higher education. The main findings are as follows: The mismatch literature on Turkey has been growing for the recent years but is still very limited. The incidence of both the vertical and field of study mismatch is higher for vocational and technical high schools in all periods examined. Both mismatches increased over time for both target groups, and that the rate of increase in higher education is higher than that in vocational and technical high schools. Regarding the overlapping mismatch, we define three mismatch categories, namely mere field of study mismatch, mere overeducation and full-mismatch. We find that 40.6% of employees from higher education and 70.2% of employees from vocational and technical high schools are mismatched by any category.