Underemployment, education, and job satisfaction

Abstract

Education is an effective vehicle to produce the skills required to maintain economic growth. The benefits of education range from the human aspects to economic, social, and cultural advancement. In Pakistan, there is significant rise in the average level of education, but over time, more and more workers are incapable of using their educational background on the job. Supply of labour may have outstripped the demand of labour in some professions, with highly qualified people takingup jobs in low positions. Such underemployment has not been fully explored in Pakistan. The mismatch between education and job often results in underemployment and over-education, representing an inefficient use of human resources and lost output for society. Our research is based on a case study of clerical workers of Sui Northern Gas Pipe Lines (Ltd). Investigation of clerical work is especially suitable because underemployment is high in the clerical sector. Using the self-assessment criteria, we compare the employees' personal characteristics and educational backgrounds with the nature of their jobs, attitudes, and behaviour. The findings show that individuals who underutilise their education and skills are dissatisfied because the employees' earn almost no return on surplus education. Since they get no reward on surplus education, they have less job involvement and high quit intention rate as compared to the better-matched workers. © The Pakistan Development Review.