Does educational mismatch have an impact on the health of individuals in Italy?

Our study investigates the health consequences of educational mismatch by considering both over-education and under-education within the working population of Italy. The educational mismatch is the difference between the individual's attained qualifications and those required to perform their current job. According to the OECD (2019) Skills and Work report, approximately 38% of workers in Italy are classified as educationally mismatched. To date, very few studies have examined the relationship between educational mismatch and health. Our study aims at bridging this gap. Our study is based on data from the 'Aspects of Life Survey' by ISTAT (2021). The dependent variable is self-reported health, measured on an ordinal and categorical scale. We measure educational mismatch (over- and under-education) following the methodology of Verdugo and Verdugo (1989). An individual is classified as over-educated (under-educated) if their attained level of education exceeds one standard deviation above (below) the average years of education in their professional sphere. We focus exclusively on individuals in the labour force, resulting in a final sample of about 15800 individuals. Our study includes a gender-specific analysis and estimates ordered probit models for our categorical dependent variable. Our econometric specification incorporates sociodemographic controls such as age, marital status, education and economic conditions, as well as work-related controls such as employment industry, self-employment status and level of physical activity involved in the job. We also control for geographical location and health behaviours (obesity and smoking). The results of our gender-specific analysis reveal that while educational mismatch (over-education and under-education) does not significantly impact the health of women, undereducation has a detrimental effect on the health of males in Italy.