교육과 노동시장 연계와 성과(III)

Abstract

본 연구는 2009~2011년의 3개년 시리즈 연구로서 교육과 노동시장의 효율적인 연계란 무엇인지를 정의하고, 이를 토대로 연계가 교육과 노동시장에 장ㆍ단기적으로 어떠한 성과를 나타내고 있는지를 분석하기 위한 목적하에 수행되었다. 나아가 연구 결과를 근거로 교육 및 노동정책에 대한 함의를 모색하기 위해 시도되었다. 구체적으로 2009년도 연구는 다양한 교육정책과 환경변화하에서 (주로 대학교육을 중심으로) 교육투자가 어떻게 이루어졌는가와 이러한 교육투자가 생애직업경로에서 어떠한 노동시장 성과를 발현하였는가를 주요 분석 주제로 다루었고, 2010년도 연구가 교육과 노동시장 간에 연계와 연계체제, 매개(연계)장치 등을 규정하고, 이를 근거로 관련 세부 연구 영역을 찾아내어 교육-노동시장의 각 연계장치가 노동시장에서 장ㆍ단기적으로 어떠한 성과를 나타내었는지를 주요 분석 주제로 다루었다면, 올해의 2011년도 연구는 교육-노동시장 연계 과정에서 발생하는 불일치ㆍ불평등의 문제를 장ㆍ단기적인 시각에서 분석하여 교육과 노동시장 간에 효과적인 연계체제를 갖출 수 있는 정책 대안을 제시하기 위한 목적하에 수행되었다.

This research is part of the three-year study from 2009 to 2011. The research was conducted with the objective of defining what efficient linkage between education and the labor market is and based on this, analyzing what achievement this linkage makes in education and the labor market in the short and long term. Exploring the implications for education and labor policies will be possible based on the research results. More specifically, in the 2009 study, the main analysis topics were how the investment in education was made in the face of various changes in education policies and the environment and what kind of labor market achievements such education investment made in the lifetime career path. In 2010, the study defined the linkage between education and the labor market, the linkage system and linkage mechanism. Based on this, the main analysis topics of the research were to find out related specific research areas and what each linkage mechanism between education and the labor market achieved in the labor market in the short and long term. This year, the 2011 study was conducted with the objective of presenting policy alternatives to establish an effective linkage system between education and the labor market by analyzing the issues of mismatch and inequality occurring in the process of linking education and the labor market from the short-and long-term perspectives. In particular, given that this year is the last year of the three-year study, the first, second and third researches are put together, and with the research outcomes, the policy alternatives that help the linkage system between education and the labor market systematically work are presented. Specific research results of each item are as follows.

Mismatch between major and skill sets and the short-and long-term labor market achievements In this chapter, the level of college graduates' skills at the time of graduation, the content of skills and the gap according to majors, and the difference in the labor market compensation for the gap in skills and the mismatch. First, our analysis results found that the effectiveness in terms of the objective of college education equipping students with major knowledge has worsened and the effect has decreased even more in building core capacities, such as general major knowledge and mathematical skills, and fostering basic job skills. In particular, the recent cohort showed the level of skill cultivation was more serious. Second, as the mismatch between major and skills differs according to majors, the decline in the level of absolute skill building is a more serious problem than the relative mismatch between major and skills. In addition, for more recent college graduate cohorts, the value existence period of major knowledge and skills acquired at college is evaluated for too short. Therefore, the qualitative value issue of college education in terms of human capital accumulation was extremely serious. Third, according to the results of the estimated wage effects at the time of taking a job, the enumerated data of the skill level dummy do not have significance in estimation by major as well as comprehensive skill level and skill indicators by sub-component. This is attributed to new hire recruitment practices, depending on educational background and colleges, and the package policy for the same wage. Fourth, according to the result of the estimated wage effect by the current job, the enumerated data of the skill level dummy, excluding the 1982 class cohort, has a significant level of approximately 3.5%. This means that high skill levels at the time of college graduation is translated into the wage effect during a certain period of time and as the time being in the labor market becomes longer, the effect disappears. Given the above, the effectiveness and qualitative value of college education in terms of human capital accumulation should be approached seriously. While inefficient distribution of resources and the generalization of higher education should be considered in terms of policy, the solutions should be immediately prepared. Universities should come up with or implement something other than basic education programs, or make additional investments in building core competency and basic job skills. Companies should try to recruit as many people as possible by the concepts of knowledge, competency and ability accumulated through education, training and experience. In this case, as universities send an active signal to companies and companies to higher education institutions, the win-win linkage structure between education and the labor market will be further strengthened.

Determining factor of the major-job mismatch and the wage effects In this chapter, the major-job situation for college graduates in Korea using subjective indexes on the major-job mismatch was analyzed and the factors affecting the major-job mismatch and the wage penalty effect caused by this mismatch were empirically analyzed. First, the analysis results found that about 30% of Korean college graduates thought there is a mismatch between their college majors and jobs. There was no big difference in the major-job mismatch between men and women. For majors, the percentage and probability of the major-job mismatch were higher in graduates from departments of humanities and natural sciences. The lower the economic level of households is, the bigger the major-job mismatch is. It is difficult to argue that as the length of employment increases or work experience are accumulated the major-job mismatch becomes mitigated. Second, according to analysis results, the estimated wage effects of the major-job mismatch was about 8.2% for men and 9.0% for women (if different characteristics of individuals are controlled, it would be 5.5% for men and 7.5% for women), not significantly higher compared to foreign analysis results. Third, although the major-job mismatch was resolved with increasing work experience, the wage penalty of the mismatch did not decrease. However, for men, as their employment term in one company increased, the wage penalty did decrease, though slightly. With the above results, policy implications to mitigate the major-job mismatch are as follows. First, sufficient information about majors should be provided for the underprivileged before they go to university. In addition to career guidance programs targeting the poor to help them choose majors and universities, employment services focusing on the entry into the labor market after university graduation should be developed. Second, to increase the major-job match, it is important to make choices about universities and majors in high school but it is also important to increase learning ability in university. In other words, improving the education environment helping university students immersing themselves in studying can contribute to the major-job match. Third, it is imperative to further enhance training courses or reeducation programs to reduce disadvantages from the major-job mismatch as the employment term or work experience increases. Fourth, from the perspective of the major-job mismatch, it is inevitable to restructure university majors and to reduce the number of university students.

Reality of downward employment and short-and long-term labor market achievements In this chapter, the scale and characteristics of downward employment and the short-and long-term labor market achievements of downward employment were analyzed. In particular, the trend analyses were carried out from the mid-and long term perspectives focusing on whether downward employment is a temporary phenomenon occurring in the process of finding the right job and moving toward upward employment in the lifetime career path or whether it is a trap difficult to come out of once falling into it. First, while the proportion of downward employment changes within the 20% range, for more recent college graduate cohorts, the proportion has steadily increased. Whether at the time of the current job or the then job, the proportion has not changed significantly even when changing jobs. In particular, the proportion of downward employment and the service year at work has a positive relationship. Given these results, the mismatch between education and the labor market, determined by downward employment and the recent phenomenon of more people getting higher education, has become more severe. Second, the downward employment trend analysis using the Markov transition probability matrix found that among those who take a job that requires less qualification they have, for six out of ten, downward employment became permanent even though they got another job. According to graduate cohorts, the more recent generation has harder times overcoming the downward employment impasse. Third, wage levels of downward employment at the time of taking a job after graduation was 96.0%, not significantly lower compared to those who have the right jobs. But as work experience is accumulated, the wage gap widens. Even for those who were in downward employment at the time of entering the labor market after graduation, the wage gap was significantly resolved when they got out of downward employment in the process of changing jobs. The estimation results using the wage function found that the wage gap caused by downward employment was insignificant at the first job but by the current job, the wage gap was significant. Fourth, the results of estimated downward employment escape probability found that educational and labor market characteristics as well as individual characteristics do not make much impact on escaping from downward employment for college graduate cohorts of the classes of 1982, 1992 and 2002 falling into downward employment in the process of entering the labor market. Therefore, individuals should create career information to choose type of occupation and companies by considering their aptitude development potential after fully understanding information on companies. Companies should make efforts to resolve downward employment by improving working conditions and the government should come up with policies to resolve the fixation of downward employment from the mid-and long-term perspective rather than a short-term perspective when preparing policies to address the education-labor market mismatch. In doing so, the focus of government policy directions (particularly regarding young adults) should move from addressing unemployment to improving employment.

Changes in university rankings and wage gap In this chapter, the analysis was carried out focusing on the wage premium of Korea's top three universities, so-called 'SKY' universities, (Seoul National University, Korea University and Yonsei University) and the relationship between university rankings and wage premium of universities were analyzed by generalizing the discussion. First, the premium of being a graduate from a prestigious university did exist when not considering the score of the university entrance exam. Also, the wage difference according to the rankings of the average scores of universities existed among all universities including the top three universities. Second, the premium by universities significantly differs according to graduating classes, which can be partly explained by the university entrance rate and students'''' choice of college and major. Third, the wage gap caused by universities is discrimination at least partially. For example, if there is a big wage gap among colleges even after taking into account admission scores, there is no doubt about discrimination. Fourth, the discrimination against universities does not consistently exist and the discrimination is getting resolved in the case of those who took the multiple-choice only college entrance exam, proving in the graduating class of 1992. If the labor market's evaluation is completely trusted, it can be interpreted that the scholastic aptitude test better assessed productivity after university graduation compared to the multiple-choice only college entrance exam. Currently, the younger generation spend so much time studying foreign languages and getting certificates to send a better signal in the face of the unemployment crisis. However, unless this kind of study is a "good" signal reflecting productivity it will greatly contribute to wasting national resources. Eliminating discrimination can raise efficiency and fairness at the same time. There would be no excellent solution to the recruitment process that can stop the unproductive ranking competition but for the smooth linkage between education and the labor market, continuously exploring such recruitment process and practices is the most important task for us living the current time.

Short-and long-term labor market achievements for graduates from local universities In this chapter, to find out whether there exist discrimination in the labor market achievements between graduates from universities in the capital area and graduates from local universities, an empirical analysis was carried out considering econometric strictness. Even if the income premium is strictly defined, the income discrimination against graduates from local universities is serious compared to graduates from universities in the capital areas and for those who graduate from university more recently, the gap gets wider. When using the instrumental variable of graduating from high school whether in Incheon or in the Gyonggi Province, the income premium ranged from 15% to 20%. This analysis result means that if people who had similar ability before entering university graduate from university in Seoul get higher income compared to those who graduate from local universities. The key conclusion of this chapter is that the reason graduates from university in Seoul receive higher income is not the difference in the human composition but the causal relationship between two variables. In order to reduce the discrimination between universities in the capital area and local universities, the policy direction should be focused on how to improve the productivity of graduates from local universities. Considering increasing investment in education, enhancing the peer group effect by attracting excellent students and lack of social capital, other methods such as implementing affirmative action during the recruiting season can be taken into account.

Gender difference in the linkage between education and the labor market In this chapter, statistics indicators regarding the school-labor market movement process are organized and these indicators are divided into the stage of attendance at school and movement preparation, stage of moving from school to the labor market and the stage of completed linkage between education and the labor market to compare and analyze gender differences. First, regarding the indicator of the stage of attendance at school and movement preparation, female students choose more various majors compared to the past but still they prefer the teaching profession and avoid natural sciences and engineering. Also, women have less preference for the manufacturing, information and technology and business services areas, which is highly related to the engineering area, than men. Second, looking into the macroscopic background behind the stage of moving from school to the labor market, as the number of female employees among the younger college graduates has increased over the last ten years, the gap in the employment rate or in the unemployment rate has significantly decreased, but the employment rate for female college graduates was still lower than their counterpart. Third, the employment rate for women is lower than men when getting a first job moving from school to the labor market but once women are employed, they hold jobs with relatively higher job security. Fourth, the match between major and occupation differs mainly by major and there is no big difference between men and women. Female students whose majors are education and humanities have lower employment possibility but once they are employed they are highly likely to work in the occupation that matches major. Based on these study results, the implications of policies for young female workers with college education are as follows. First, to encourage female students at the middle school stage to choose engineering majors, eliminating discrimination in the labor market and redefining the gender role at the social level are necessary. Second, by releasing the employment rates for gender and major, the diversification of the major choices for female students should be encouraged. Third, to narrow the widening gap in the employment rate at the movement stage, more efforts to eliminate recruitment discrimination should be made. Fourth, the issue of the linkage between education and the labor market should be approached from the long-term perspective considering macroscopic variables, such as changing the job structure or restructuring the major system rather than be approached from microscopic or short-term perspective.

Policy measures for the smooth linkage between education and the labor market In this chapter, the first, second and third studies are synthesized and based on that result, policy measures helping the linkage system between education and the labor market work properly are put forward. Regarding policy suggestions for the efficient linkage between education and the labor market, suggestions are made from the education policy perspective and the labor market perspective. First of all, regarding the smooth linkage between education and the labor market from the education perspective, policy measures were divided into the stages of input, process and output, which is the typical policy analysis model, and were discussed in terms of the quality control of each stage, fairness of education opportunities, responsiveness of education programs and the effectiveness of education results. In particular, specific measures were presented by themes of policy measure for university- industry and company-government. First, as for universities, regarding student-related policy measures, admission evaluations based on students'''' ability, offering equal education opportunities for the underprivileged, cultivating basic job competency, building major competency with an emphasis on work experience, customized education program design and learning, and the inclusion of employment competency development results in student evaluations, were put forward. Also, regarding education and school-related policy measures, securing faculty with sufficient work experience, designing and managing education courses focusing on the field and employment, organizing and running task force teams consisting of professors from companies, and linking employment guidance and information systems were presented. Second, regarding companies and industries, participating in making, implementing and evaluating education plans, and evaluating and acknowledging education programs were presented as detailed measures. Third, regarding the government, building and supporting infrastructures sponsored by government, providing human resources, managing employment information systems, and giving qualification through evaluation certification of education courses were presented. Meanwhile, Policy measures for the smooth linkage between education and the labor market from the labor market perspective are as follows: ① a linkage system between education and the labor market ② information on education and the labor market ③ the industry''''s participating in skill development courses ④ management of human resources in the labor market ⑤ mutual implementation by schools and the labor market.

The empirical analyses of this study are to understand the reality of education and the labor market in the retrospective terms based on research information on building human resources and taking advantage of the labor market since the 1980s. This kind of data can have limitation in explaining the high entrance rate of higher education since the 2000s and the reality of youth unemployment. But this study is believed to be very useful in catching future-oriented mid-and long-term dynamic trends. That is because past policies implemented by separating education from the labor market were focused on fostering uniform skills in the imitative production pattern, but in recent years, interdependent factors of education and the labor markets are emerging as core factors of policies. The mid-and long- dynamic relationship that has changed depending on education and the labor market has become an important factor in finding policy means. Therefore, although the empirical analysis of this study are based on retrospective data, it can provide very significant findings for policy suggestions about future education and the labor market.