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Overskilling, Job Insecurity, and Career Mobility
Author(s) -
McGUINNESS SEAMUS,
WOODEN MARK
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
industrial relations: a journal of economy and society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.61
H-Index - 57
eISSN - 1468-232X
pISSN - 0019-8676
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-232x.2009.00557.x
Subject(s) - job insecurity , psychology , turnover , phenomenon , demographic economics , work (physics) , labour economics , social psychology , economics , management , mechanical engineering , physics , quantum mechanics , engineering
This paper uses longitudinal data from Australia to examine the extent to which overskilling—the extent to which work‐related skills and abilities are utilized in current employment—is a transitory phenomenon. The results suggest that while overskilled workers are much more likely to want to quit their current job, they are also relatively unconfident of finding an improved job match. Furthermore, some of the greater mobility observed among overskilled workers is due to involuntary job separations, and even where job separations are voluntary, the majority of moves do not result in improved skills matches.