Educational mismatch and occupational mobility in metropolitan Brazil

Abstract

This article examines the determinants of socio–occupational mobility in Brazilian metropolitan labor market focusing on the effect of cyclical conditions on the upward and downward movements from the individual education–occupation mismatch status. This mismatch is defined from the comparison between the observed individual level of schooling and the required schooling of their occupations. The identification strategy of the models was based on the construction of a pseudo–panel at the birth–cohort level using data from the Monthly Employment Survey (PME–IBGE) over the 2002–2008 period. The main empirical evidence found is that the upward occupational mobility of the overeducated is pro–cyclical with the rate of unemployment in the Brazilian metropolitan labor market. This result contributes to the understanding of the determinants of both the socioeconomic mobility and educational mismatch in Brazil.