Ph.D. and Overeducation in Italy – 31.28% of them report that their Ph.D. title was not useful to get the job they were carrying

In 2009, ISTAT carried out a survey of Ph.D. holders who completed their studies three and five years earlier, in 2006 and in 2004, respectively. The data reveals that unemployment among Ph.D. holders is lower than what is reported for university graduates. A share as high as 92.5% of doctors who completed their studies in 2006 was working at the time of the survey and the figure is even higher in the case of those who graduated in 2004 (93.7%).

Figure 1 confirms this, while also showing that there is high heterogeneity of unemployment rates across fields of study, since Human Sciences and some of the Social Sciences perform worse than other fields. The share of Ph.D. holders working in the academia after the completion of their studies is approximately 36% with a remarkable variability among fields of study; it is higher in Mathematics and Physics and lower in Law and Life Sciences (see figure below).

Figure 1: Unemployment and university employment of Ph.D. holders.

Source: IZA DP No. 10051 based on ISTAT data.

What about the job to education matching among those who work outside of the academia? Approximately 31.28% of them report that their Ph.D. title was not useful to get the job they were carrying out when interviewed. Nevertheless this figure does not tell us anything about skills utilization.

Chosen excerpts by Job Market Monitor. Read the whole story at  The overeducated Italian doctors | IZA Newsroom