Overqualification in the German labor market: An empirical analysis based on data of the German Socio-Economic Panel (SOEP)

Bachelor Thesis from the year 2013 in the subject Economics - Job market economics, grade: 1,3, Leuphana Universitat Luneburg (Institut fur Volkswirtschaftslehre), language: English, abstract: A strange course description of an adult education center created rumblings in the press last year. The title of the new announced course was: De-qualification for academics; accompanied by the explanation that an academic degree or even a doctorate can be a big hurdle for employment in certain jobs like construction helper. But there would be no reason to despair, since the necessary target group specific vocabulary, adequat clothing, and specifically attitude changes can be learned. Despite of these cliches and a scheduled starting date of 1st April, the most funny but also characteristic thing was that several journalists fell for this April fool. The subjective perception of higher education has obviously changed in parts (Karschnick 2012). In former times, people used to say that you have to study to be successful in your job. Is overqualification for university graduates in Germany really existing and increasingly becoming a problem? However, this question can also be seen in another way. Directly related to this aggregated perspective is the decision making of an individual. If there are many university graduates working in an occupation, which does not require their education, it is obviously not very desirable. Is it worth to study and striving for an university degree?