The effects of the compulsory schooling law on education-occupation mismatch in the Turkish labor market

Abstract

In Turkey, the duration of compulsory schooling increased from 5 years to 8 years in 1997. With this substantial change, the average educational attainment of individuals increased. This thesis estimates the effects of the eight years of compulsory schooling law on the education-occupation mismatch in the Turkish labor market using Turkish Household Labor Force Survey data between 2006-2018 on individuals between the ages of 21 and 32. Three measurement approaches are applied to determine the required years of schooling for each occupation. Individuals are categorized as overeducated, undereducated, and adequately educated according to these measurement methods. To capture the effects of compulsory schooling on the likelihood of being in any mismatch category, multinomial logit models are run by controlling individuals’ characteristics. The empirical findings show that the change in years of compulsory schooling has no effect on the likelihood of being overeducated for either gender. The compulsory schooling reform has a significant and positive effect on the likelihood of being adequately educated for both women and men. The likelihood of being undereducated decreased for women and men with the education reform.