Patterns of overeducation among highly educated mobile intra-EU workers, 2005–2016: Enlargement, financial crisis, and mobility

Abstract

This study analyses the working conditions of highly educated mobile workers in five major European Union (EU) markets. The study uses the overeducation indicator, analyzing its transformation over the period 2005–2016. Using annual data from the European Union Labour Force Survey, the results reveal very different conditions between home country nationals and mobile workers from newer (enlargement)—EU-13—and older—EU-15—member states from the perspective of successful economic and social integration. The EU enlargement process has not completely removed the penalty for educated workers from EU-13 countries, but it has significantly reduced it, as has the premium received by mobile workers from other EU-15 member states, thus leading to their better integration and greater equality.