Surplus degrees, scarce opportunities: profiling overqualification in Ecuador

Overqualification (defined as a situation in which workers’ formal credentials exceed job requirements) has become increasingly salient in Ecuador, especially among young workers. Using ENEMDU microdata for 5,150 employed young tertiary-educated workers, this paper estimates a logit model with an objective occupation-based mismatch measure. Average marginal effects indicate that women are 6.3 percentage points more likely to be overqualified than men. Relative to technical and technological tertiary graduates, university graduates show a 10.3 percentage-point higher probability of overqualification. Informality and microenterprise employment are also strongly associated with mismatch. Sectoral results reveal lower overqualification in education, professional activities, and health.