Does vocational education protect graduates from skills mismatches?

The issue of skills and educational mismatch has been widely researched over the last two decades; however, some gaps remain. There are indications that vocational education pathways diminish both the exposure to mismatch and its impacts. Nevertheless, the relationship between vocational orientation and mismatch remains under-researched due to a lack of data accurately distinguishing between vocational and non-vocational qualifications. We explore this issue using the European Skills and Jobs Survey (2014), which allows for the accurate identification of vocational qualifications. We examine the implications of using different definitions for both the intensity of vocational education and the prevalence of skills mismatch. The extent to which rates of overeducation and overskilling vary according to qualification type is also examined for graduates. Our findings show that the definitional approach used plays an important role, and after controlling for relevant characteristics, more vocational programmes are shown to reduce the incidence of mismatch.