Contextualizing Overeducation: How Marketization and Educational Expansion Shape Labor Market Outcomes

• In Event: 21020 - Section on Sociology of Education Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 12: Expansion of Higher Education

Abstract

The global expansion of higher education over recent decades has prompted significant interest in its consequences for labor markets, particularly in relation to the phenomenon of overeducation. Building on the institutional contextuality of relative education theory, this study examines how the absolute and relative roles of education may become more prominent in different contexts. Specifically, it argues that in regions with more developed market mechanisms—such as more flexible labor markets and greater economic liberalization—the absolute effect of education is stronger, reducing the persistence of overeducation. Using data from the 2011-2018 Chinese General Social Survey (CGSS), this paper investigates the phenomenon of overeducation and its income effects under the expansion of education and marketization in China. The results show that overeducation is less likely to occur in regions with higher marketization, even with educational expansion. Using a multilevel model, the study further analyzes the regional heterogeneity in the income effects of overeducation, finding positive income effects in both low expansion - low-marketization and high expansion - high marketization regions. This research not only highlights the institutional contextuality of relative education theory but also contributes to a broader understanding of overeducation dynamics in global labor markets undergoing educational expansion and marketization.

Author

• Chuxian Dai, Fudan University