Messinis, George (2009) Overeducation and Overskilling in Australia: Second Generation Greek-Australians and Italian-Australians. In: Greek research in Australia : proceedings of the Biennial International Conference of Greek Studies, Flinders University, June 2007. Close, Elizabeth, Couvalis, George, Frazis, George, Palaktsoglou, Maria and Tsianikas, Michael, eds. Flinders University, Department of Languages- Modern Greek, Adelaide, South Australia, pp. 233-250.

Abstract

We utilise HILDA data over the period 2001–2005 to evaluate the performance of second-generation Greek-Australians and Italian-Australians in the labour market. We focus on the effect of overeducation, undereducation, languages-other-than-English (LOTE), and ethnicity on weekly earnings of full-time workers. The evidence is as follows: (a) most Greek-Australians are over-represented amongst the overeducated; (b) overeducation and overskilling can be attributed to a lack of new skills on the job, parental occupational status, non-English-speaking overseas born, and unobserved characteristics of second-generation females; (c) LOTE does not seem to make a contribution to earning of individual workers; and (d) the use of LOTE amongst the two second-generation groups has declined, though second-generation women in part-time employment are an exception.

Search Google Scholar

Repository staff login