Younger workers, particularly those entering the workforce at ages 25-34 years, are more educated than ever before. The potential for these workers to be over-educated in their jobs might therefore be high. But does it follow that they are mismatched to the skill requirements of their jobs? This study examines the link between over-education and skill mismatches for Australian workers aged 25-34 and 35-44 years of age, based on an analysis of data from the 1996 Survey of Aspects of Literacy and the 2006 Adult Literacy and Life Skills Survey. In addition, the wage returns from over-education and over-skilling are investigated. This research provides an interesting comparison with work done by Mavromaras, McGuinness and King (

Descriptors: Foreign Countries, Wages, Educational Attainment, Skilled Workers, Education Work Relationship, Adult Literacy, Job Skills, Vocational Education, Correlation, National Surveys, Employment Qualifications, Adults, Cost Effectiveness, Outcomes of Education, Cohort Analysis, Interviews, Measurement Techniques

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