Overeducation and spatial flexibility: New evidence from Italian survey data

This paper addresses the effect of workers’ spatial flexibility (commuting and migration) on their probability of being overeducated. The empirical analysis deals with two possible sources of misspecification: the endogeneity of migration and the omission of relevant job characteristics. It also controls for area and personal characteristics. Results show that commuting is positively correlated with the quality of the education-job match. However, analysis does not support the conventional wisdom that migration unambiguously reduces over-education. It seems fair to conclude that the link between migration and over-education remains unclear and that further research is needed in order to better ground policy prescriptions.