MEHE KODU ON MAAILM, NAISE MAAILM ON KODU? - Tartu Ülikool

HARIDUSE PEEGELDUS TÄISKASVANUEAS REFLECTION OF EDUCATION IN ADULTHOOD
there are more women than men among persons having attained tertiary education, the
possibility of being overeducated is indeed greater for women. At the same time, undereducation
is twice as prevalent among men. Approximately 4% of men and 2% of women in Estonia are
undereducated. An adequate match between education and work is more common among men
than among women. 87% of men and 84% of women state that their job corresponds to their
education. Men and women are prepared, for varying reasons, to accept jobs that do not match
their education. It is often assumed that men are career-oriented. Men often make their decisions
based on salary figures and promotion prospects, while women primarily tend to consider
opportunities for balancing work and family life (Robst 2007). However, women’s career
advancement ambitions cannot be underestimated and, nowadays, women’s contribution to
breadwinning alongside men is quite considerable. In 2010, pay was the main reason for search
of a new or additional work among both men and women. However, the share of ambitious
persons, who were trying to find a job with a better match with their skills and abilities, was higher
among women. The share of persons, who were looking for a job with more convenient working
time arrangements for personal or family reasons, was almost equal among men and women i.e.
roughly one tenth. (Table 1)
Based on the job-matching theory, higher positions should be occupied by highly educated
people and vice versa (Boudarbat and Chernoff 2009). From an employee’s viewpoint, being
overeducated is more unfavourable than being undereducated, because it means a loss in
potential earnings. Dissatisfaction with work forces overeducated people to search for a job with a
better fit with their level of education, i.e., it increases the likelihood of job change. A low level of
education usually means a high risk of unemployment. As a result, if an undereducated person
has found a job, he or she tends to be satisfied with it, which facilitates his or her staying in the
job or in the company (Marchante et al. 2007). The data from the 2010 Estonian LFS indicate that
this theory is valid for men. 11% of overeducated men were looking for new or additional work
compared to 5% of undereducated men who were looking for new work. However, the situation
was reversed in case of women: 8% of overeducated and 9% of undereducated women were
searching for new work. (Figure 1)
In 2010, the annual average unemployment rate in Estonia was 16.9%. The unemployment rate
increased at a significantly higher pace among men than among women. The risk of
unemployment increased the number of unemployed men who were willing to accept jobs not
corresponding to their level of education. Before recession, a half of unemployed men with
post-secondary vocational or higher education were prepared to accept a job requiring lower
educational level, but this share increased to around three quarters during the nadir of recession.
Women’s willingness to work in positions requiring lower education level decreased drastically in
2008, with women generally hoping for jobs that would fit their education. However, as soon as
the following year, nearly 80% of unemployed women with post-secondary vocational or higher
education were prepared to accept lower level occupational positions. (Figure 2)
How does a person’s personal life affect his/her position in the labour market? In terms of marital
status, women in a relationship are more likely to be overeducated than single women (Robst
2007). As men tend to earn more money, families often choose a place of residence based on job
opportunities for men, which imposes geographic restrictions on women’s career choices and
they often settle for jobs for which they are overeducated (Malo and Blazquesz 2004). At the
same time, single persons do not depend on their partner and this expands their range of choices
in the search for a suitable job. No such trends have been observed in Estonia. In the LFS, the
best match between education and work was observed in the case of women in marriage or in
cohabitation. Overeducation is most prevalent (18%) among divorced, separated or widowed
women. The share of undereducated women is the largest (4%) among single women. There are
no differences between single men and men in relationship, because both groups included
87% of those whose work matched their level of education. (Figure 3)
In Estonia, the number of overeducated people increases and the number of undereducated
people decreases with age. There is a sudden upsurge in overeducation in the group of people
over 64 years of age. 16% of people aged 50–64 are overeducated, but among those aged 65 or
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MEHE KODU ON MAAILM, NAISE MAAILM ON KODU? MAN’S HOME IS THE WORLD, WOMAN’S WORLD IS HER HOME?