Skill mismatch

Indian Economy glossary

Topic: Human Capital: Education, Health and Demographic Dividend · NCERT: Beyond NCERT

Meaning

Skill mismatch is a situation where workers' skills or qualifications do not fit the jobs available. It takes three forms:

  • over-qualification: the worker has more education than the job needs;
  • under-qualification: the worker has less than the job needs;
  • wrong field: the worker is trained in a subject the job does not use.

Mismatch wastes human capital and lowers productivity. It is one reason for India's "educated-unemployed paradox", where degrees do not match what employers need.

Example

NSSO data for 2011-12 showed that 19% of rural male graduates were unemployed, while only about 3–6% of primary-educated youth were. Part of the reason is mismatch. Many graduates hold degrees that employers do not want. Others take jobs far below their training, such as an engineer working as a delivery agent.

Don't confuse with

  • Skill gap: the skill gap is the difference between the skills employers need and the skills the available workforce has. It describes a shortage across the labour market. Skill mismatch describes a poor fit between a worker and the job they hold or seek.

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