Education, Overeducation,
and Youth Employment in the United States
and Germany: The Mechanics of Restructuring
James
C. Witte
Abstract
Recent analyses of the consequences of the economic
restructur-ing of the1980s in the United States and Germany have
paid little attention to the integration of young people into the
labor force. However, it is at this point that private and public
institutional actors have the greatest flexibility in allocating
labor in a manner that fits with the requirements of a rapidly changing
economy. This paper uses data from two nationally representative
data sets, the U.S. High School and Beyond longitudinal study and
the German Socio-economic Panel, to examine labor force integration
processes in the two countries. The analysis focuses on 22-year-olds
in each country and examines educational status, attainment, employment,
and the incidence of overemployment (i.e., the extent to which skills
obtained are required in subsequent employment). Special attention
is paid to the distribution of young workers to labor market positions
as defined by sector and skill levels. Effects of individual characteristics,
labor market postion, and overeducation on earnings are estimated
and compared between the two countries.
James C. Witte, Department
of Sociology, Clemson University
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