Page 22 - Education and Inclusive Growth --Jong-Wha Lee Korea University

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that reflect the strong growth of a better-educated population has not adequately

matched with changing demand in the labor market.
The knowledge and skills gained at formal education system often fail to
produce graduates with adequate skills and technical competencies relevant

to the labor market. According to a survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit
(EIU 2015), 64% of the executives surveyed were dissatisfied with the level of
attainment of young employees and 52% pointed out a skills gap as an obstacle

to the firm’s performance. Meanwhile, only 44% of the students aged 18 to 25
believed that their education system provided adequate skills.
OECD’s Programme for the International Assessment of Adult

Competencies (PIAAC) shows prevailing mismatches between the skills
acquired in education and those required in the labor market in many countries
(OECD, 2013). PIAAC defines well-matched, over- and under-education

of workers based on the respondents’ educational attainment and their self-
assessment about the education level required for their job. Figure 6 shows
the shares of over-education, well-matched education, and under-education
for 24 countries. The incidence of mismatch is substantial: on average, 22%

of the workers are over-educated while about 13% are under-educated. Note
considerable variations across countries. The share of over-educated workers

ranges from less than 15% in Italy and the Netherlands to over 30% in France
and Japan, while the share of under-education ranges from less than 8% in
the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic and Japan to over 20% in Italy and
Sweden. The proportion of over-education tends to be higher among the workers

with at least over 16 years of education while that of under-education tends to
decrease with attained educational level.

The emergence of a skills mismatch is a serious concern, causing
unemployment, underemployment and job dissatisfaction. In Korea, for