Required and available skills in the European labor market for higher education graduates Christoph Meng Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market Maastricht University

Agenda Measuring Skills Recent Surveys Results Concluding Remarks

Measuring Skills Distinction between competency and skill Group of skills Referring to a single underlying dimension Condition to fulfill complex tasks

Measuring Skills Self-assessment Pros and cons: –Direct at the source of information –Measurement errors Pompousness or exaggerated modesty Influenced by surroundings Vagueness/ambiguities in question Different yardsticks

Recent Surveys CHEERS –3 years after graduation –Survey in 1998/1999 –European countries + Japan REFLEX –5 years after graduation –Survey in 2005/2006 –European countries + Japan

First serie of studies CHEERS data set Discipline versus Academic AcquisitionRoleValue

Competencies Discipline-specific Theoretical knowledge Knowledge of methods Academic Learning abilities Reflective thinking Problem-solvingAnalyticalDocumenting

Requirements

Requirements

Requirements

Acquisition

Acquisition

Acquisition

Competencies and ILM versus OLM

Role and value of Competencies OLM countries –Allocation: Discipline-specific competencies –Training: Academic competencies –Wage: Mismatch in discipline-specific competencies ILM countries –Allocation: no effect –Training: Academic competencies –Wage: Mismatch in academic competencies (UK)

Second serie of studies REFLEX data set Requirement of skills in different sectors Trend setting organisation Trend follower

Requirements

Requirements

Requirements

Match

Concluding remarks Self assessment Absolute comparisons: NO Relative comparisons: YES Anchors  current and future research