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Skill mismatches have strong negative effects on productivity, job satisfaction, and other outcomes. To reduce skill mismatches, governments need to rely on accurate data on the prevalence of these mismatches. The Programme of the International Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC) is currently the most important data source providing excellent and unparalleled information for many countries on two key information-processing skills (i.e., literacy and numeracy skills). However, although these data contain rich information about possessed skills, countries lack directly comparable information on the required skills in those domains. Hence, it has been difficult to use the PIAAC data to identify skill mismatches, other than through proxies of required skills (e.g., the average skill level in occupations) or workers' self-assessments of skill mismatch.

In this paper, we use the Job Analysis Method (JAM) to determine the required skill levels of literacy and numeracy for all 4-digit ISCO08 unit groups of occupations in the same metric and scale as was used in PIAAC. JAM involves the use of occupational experts to rate the skill requirements in the different occupations. JAM has never been used before to identify required skill levels for literacy and numeracy as measured in PIAAC, and the paper thus presents the first results on the prevalence of skill shortages and skill surpluses in these key information-processing skills across different OECD countries and across different occupations and sectors that is based on a more direct estimate of the required skills. We provide estimates for the proportions of well-matched, overskilled and underskilled workers per country, and compare these with estimates based on alternative methods for estimating skill mismatch. We also compare JAM with these other methods in explaining wage differentials, as well as job satisfaction. We conclude that there are large differences in the estimates of the prevalence of skill mismatches depending on the method used. We show several advantages using JAM and discuss some of the limitations as well.

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This report explores the relationship between life satisfaction and participation in further education, training and employment and assesses whether the relationship between life satisfaction and post-school activities holds after prior levels of life satisfaction are taken into account and whether movement between activities in the post-school years is associated with changes in life satisfaction. It is based on new research that brings together two streams of investigation in the Longitudinal Surveys of Australian Youth (LSAY) program: emotional well-being of young people; and transitions to further education, training and work. The overall finding of the study is that young Australians are highly satisfied with their life and careers. In particular, the study suggests that young people who were in full-time education, training, employment or a combination of these activities had higher levels of satisfaction than those who were occupied only part-time. Those who were in part-time education, training or employment were in turn more satisfied than those who were not in education, training or employment. Show less

Individuals vary considerably in the meanings they ascribe to their work. Although some feel called to vocations full of personal and moral enrichment, others believe work is meaningless or oppressive. Most probably feel their work fluctuates between positive and negative meanings. In this article the author suggests that a fundamental task for individuals is the construction of a guiding vocational narrative that meaningfully situates their work within a purposive vision. As individuals strive to fulfil their envisioned purposes, they can be likened to central characters who critique and actively shape their own unfolding stories. Vocational education should facilitate students' creative and critical capacities to detect meaningful problems or challenges in their own experiences and surrounding cultural conditions, pose liberating and morally responsible visions, and actively engage in the struggles of living a coherent story of vocation or meaningful work.

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This issue, entitled 'Gendered perspectives on community college' and edited by Jaime Lester includes the following chapters: 'Community colleges as gender-equitable institutions' by Barbara K. Townsend (p. 7-14), this chapter discusses changes in gender-equity issues in community colleges since the mid-1990s; 'Factors promoting academic success among African American and white male community college students' by Athena I. Perrakis (p. 15-23), a longitudinal study of male white and African American students in an urban community college district provides evidence of the factors that promote student success; 'Masculinities go to community college: understanding male identity socialization and gender role conflict' by Frank Harris III, Shaun R. Harper (p. 25-35), using vignettes of male students in community colleges, this chapter describes the impact of gender socialization and gender identity conflicts on male student retention; 'Broadening female participation in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics [STEM]: experiences at community colleges' by Soko S. Starobin, Frankie Santos Laanan (p. 37-46), this discussion of women in STEM fields includes their reasons for enrollment and their experiences in the community college; 'Noninstitutional staff perceptions of the college climate' by Molly H. Duggan (p. 47-56), this chapter focuses on a largely invisible group of noninstructional staff and provides data on the impact of organizational climate and workplace satisfaction; 'The actors behind the curtain: representation of women faculty in community college institutional decision making' by Jaime Lester, Scott Lukas (p. 57-68), findings from a study of faculty governance in California's community colleges provide evidence of the involvement, satisfaction, and experiences of women in campus and districtwide governance; 'Gendered leadership: an organizational perspective' by Pamela L. Eddy, Elizabeth M. Cox (p. 69-79), this chapter describes the experiences of six female community college presidents, describing their path to the presidency and instances of gender inequity they have experienced on those paths; 'Work and family balance: how community college faculty cope' by Margaret W. Sallee (p. 81-91), survey data from one institution serve as a case study of how faculty in community colleges struggle with work-family balance; 'Meeting the challenge of gender equity in community college athletics' by Cindy Castaneda, Stephen G. Katsinas, David E. Hardy (p. 93-105), national data on compliance with Title IX provide evidence of gender inequities in athletics within community colleges; and 'Strategizing for the future' by Pamela L. Eddy, Jaime Lester (p. 107-115), the final chapter in this volume presents practical recommendations for community colleges interested in becoming more gender equitable.

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This study aimed to examine the relationships among prospective teachers' interest in teaching, professional engagement and career development aspirations, and career choice satisfaction. A total of 602 prospective teachers from various primary (for example, primary school teaching) and secondary (for example, English language teaching) teacher education programs of a large university in Turkey participated voluntarily in the study. The results show that, regardless of the effects of demographic variables such as gender, age, year of study or fields of study, the prospective teachers' interest in teaching can be identified through three distinctly different profiles: high, medium and low interest in teaching. Results of the present study also demonstrate that the profiles of prospective teachers' interest in teaching were significantly related to the career choice satisfaction and professional plans.

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Obtaining a tertiary degree no longer guarantees entry to the best occupational positions in today's labour market. Success is no longer about 'more' education, but about 'better' education for university graduates. This study aims to understand whether university prestige in Korea accounts for occupational outcomes in both monetary and non-monetary aspects, such as salaries and job satisfaction. The study particularly focuses on the way different levels of university prestige are affected by gender. The fourth wave data from the Korean Education and Employment Panel were used, providing information from the results of a panel survey of university graduates in terms of their social and academic background and job employment status. Results show that university prestige continues to matter in occupational outcomes in particular, for wage, but it is not significant for job satisfaction. The effect is more significant among male graduates than among female graduates.

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This study investigated the career paths of 625 university graduates who prepared to be secondary school teachers in Oman, their assessment of their current work situation, and the extent to which their initial commitment to teaching was related to their subsequent career satisfaction and intention to remain in teaching. While nearly all graduates entered teaching, their decision was marked by ambivalence. Nearly half of the graduates reported being only somewhat or not at all committed to teaching as a career when they graduated. It also appears that initial commitment to teaching operates as an important lens through which teachers view their subsequent careers. Those initially more committed to teaching were more likely to be satisfied with the progress they made in their career, more likely to think that their current teaching position offered them opportunities for advancement, and more likely to want to remain in teaching than were graduates who had a lower initial commitment to teaching. The authors discuss both the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

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This study explores the relationship between education (level and field) and job satisfaction among Kuwaiti women employees in the Kuwaiti private banking sector. The analysis focused on the responses of the female employees to their own jobs as indicated by their level of job satisfaction. Specifically, the research involved a stratified sample of the Kuwaiti women employees in the whole private banking sector in Kuwait. This study differs from previous investigations of job satisfaction in two principal ways: in dealing with the private sector (rather than the more common public sector in studies of the Middle East) and in taking into account education (level and field) in the private sector work setting. The major findings of this research indicate that a much broader approach towards increasing satisfaction than focusing on the job itself is required. The study shows that the respondents’ education background is of substantial importance in affecting job satisfaction.

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The focus of this briefing is on the findings from the 1995 and 1998 LSAY cohorts of the Year 9 Indigenous students. It looks at attitudes of Indigenous students to, and engagement with, school, their achievement in reading, comprehension and mathematics, their participation in Year 12 and subject choice in Year 12, their transition from school, their postsecondary education, training and employment, and their satisfaction with life and work. Highlights include: most Year 9 Indigenous students aspire to complete Year 12 and go on to further education; Indigenous school students are less likely to complete Year 12 than non-Indigenous students; the participation of Indigenous students in vocational education and training is about the same as non-Indigenous students; and by age 22, most Indigenous young people have undertaken some form of further study and are engaged in full-time employment to the same extent as non-Indigenous young people. Show less

Research in the 1990s on high performance work practices (HPWPs) provided a wide range of positive results for organisational performance. Adding to these early studies in the US are similar findings from other countries. However, recent research evidence, especially that coming from the labour process tradition and research projects that look specifically at the impact of lean production on workers, appears to suggest that HPWPs are likely to lead to work intensification and not performance. This current paper examines the relative strengths of the opposing claims. There appears to be evidence of both positive and negative impact on workers. Through the use of two case studies, this paper argues that, when attention is paid to workers' intrinsic job satisfaction, there are positive outcomes from HPWPs for employees as well as organisations.

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