Parallel session J
Determinants of good employment: How are skills, qualifications and contextual factors associated with adults' labour market outcomes
Session room: RUUSUPUISTO LOBBY
Vocational Education, Skills Use and Perceived Skills (Mis)match in the Czech Republic: Evidence from PIAAC
Petra Holeckova, National Pedagogical Institute, Czech Republic
The study focuses on Czech adults with vocational education without “maturita” (graduates of an apprenticeship program, ISCED 2011 353), using the second cycle of PIAAC data. Apprenticeship programs have traditionally held a strong position in the Czech Republic, even though the literature suggests that dual tracks of academic and vocational learning reinforce educational inequalities and worsen the prospects of apprenticeship program graduates over the life cycle. The main objective of this study is to investigate how graduates of apprenticeship programs in the Czech Republic are affected by their educational background in terms of skill acquisition and labour market outcomes. Specifically, the study aims to: (1) examine the relationship between educational attainment, economic activity, and the subjectively perceived mismatch between skills and labour market demands among adults; (2) analyse how graduates of apprenticeship programs perceive educational requirements for their professions, particularly whether a high school diploma is viewed as a requisite for current job; and (3) identify which skills adults consider mismatched with their current position. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression are used to address these objectives. Graduates of apprenticeship programs are statistically more likely than adults with higher education to be economically inactive. However, those who are employed tend to assess their skills as adequate or exceeding the requirements of their positions. In the Czech Republic, a segment of the labour market remains composed of occupations that offer limited opportunities to use and develop foundational skills. This dynamic has the potential to widen the gap between adults at the lowest and highest skill levels, which may pose a challenge to social cohesion. Due to the absence of data on perceived skill deficits in personal life, it is not possible to directly evaluate how adults view their skills outside their current occupations. A further limitation is introduced by the cross-sectional design of PIAAC, although the findings from the second cycle are consistent with results from the first cycle and the IALS survey.
Parity of esteem? A job-task lens on the labour market fortunes of vocational graduates relative to academic graduates across two PIAAC cycles
Sahara Sadik, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
Ying Chia, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
Jazreel Tan, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
Megan Huang, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
This investigation examines the labour market fortunes of vocational graduates relative to academic graduates, focusing on their access to meaningful employment and equitable wages across two cycles of PIAAC in six countries. Analysis is ongoing; this abstract presents preliminary findings, with full results to be shared at the conference if accepted. Understanding vocational outcomes is key to assessing whether non-elite education provides sustainable pathways into skilled jobs that are sustained over time for meaningful opportunities in the middle of the labour market. However, such analyses are challenging due to selection into education tracks—that is, individuals entering vocational versus academic routes may differ systematically in ability, preferences, and entry into job types (Shavit & Müller, 2000). In this regard, following Araki (2020), PIAAC is especially valuable because it:
• measures workers’ literacy and numeracy proficiency independently of their qualifications;
• assesses job task requirements separately from workers’ credentials;
• enables systematic cross-country comparisons over time using the same variables for vocational outcomes to be analysed across different national institutional contexts.
For a more contextually grounded assessment, this study examines the labour market fortunes of vocational graduates across six countries selected using the ‘varieties of capitalism’ framework (Hall & Soskice, 2001) that captures how different institutional systems shape skill formation and employment outcomes. The six countries are grouped as follows:
Type of system Countries
Developmental states Singapore, South Korea
Coordinated market economies Finland, Sweden
Liberal market economies US and UK
Results for Singapore show a decline in the relative fortunes of vocational graduates between PIAAC cycles: even those with high skill proficiency are less able to access high-task jobs, and when they do, they earn less than their degree-holding counterparts. This occurs despite sustained national efforts to promote skills development over the life course through the SkillsFuture movement. One explanation is Singapore’s deeper integration into the global economy in the last decade that expanded demand for roles linked to APAC headquarters and R&D functions. These jobs tend to prioritise degree credentials, increasing their value as a positional good and disadvantaging vocational pathways. In contrast, Finland has been able to grow opportunities for vocational graduates between PIAAC cycles. One explanation is the structure of Finnish economy that focuses on creating home-grown innovations in contrast to Singapore’s global hub strategy.
Identifying Job Satisfaction Factors across Europe: A Machine Learning Approach Using PIAAC
Ludmila Fadejeva, Central Bank of Latvia, Latvia
Jeļena Muhina, Ministry of Education and Science / University of Latvia, Latvia
Job satisfaction is one of the central outcome in labour economics, reflecting both individual well-being and labour market efficiency. Despite an extensive empirical literature, there is limited evidence on how the relative importance of its determinants varies across European countries. This study addresses this gap by exploiting the data of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), which provides harmonised, cross-country data combining information on individuals’ cognitive skills, job-task content, education, relative income, personal and workplace characteristics. The richness of PIAAC enables a consistent assessment of job satisfaction drivers while accounting for individual and country level heterogeneity. The analysis focuses on several key dimensions determined in the previous literature. First, it examines education and skills mismatch, addressing whether over-qualification or skill underutilisation is associated with lower job satisfaction. Second, it considers the role of training, exploring whether access to skill development mitigates dissatisfaction linked to mismatch. Third, we explore career progression opportunities and intrinsic job characteristics -such as autonomy, task content, and managerial support - alongside with extrinsic factors including compensation and relative compensation as comparing to profession average. Fourth, we take into account health self-assessment and personal characteristics. Together, these dimensions provide a comprehensive framework for understanding job satisfaction as a multidimensional outcome shaped by both intrinsic and extrinsic job attributes across Europe. We contribute to the existing literature by applying tree-based machine learning approaches, specifically random forests and boosted forests, to identify the relative importance of job satisfaction factors across countries. Unlike conventional parametric models, these methods flexibly capture nonlinearities and high-dimensional interactions between determinants without imposing restrictive functional form assumptions. This is particularly relevant in the context of job satisfaction, where the interplay between individual characteristics, job attributes, and institutional factors is likely complex and heterogeneous. The methodological approach allows for a data-driven ranking of determinants within each country, thereby uncovering cross-country differences in job satisfaction. By combining the richness of PIAAC data with flexible machine learning techniques, our study offers new insights into the heterogeneity of job satisfaction determinants in Europe and provides a complementary perspective to the existing econometric literature.
Beyond Wages: How Task Structure and Workplace Support Shape Worker Outcomes Across Countries
Bao Zhen Tan, Institute for Adult Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singpore
Aggie Choo, Institute for Adult Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
Megan Huang, Institute for Adult Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
This paper examines how work is structured and supported across countries using data from the second cycle of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). It applies a two-dimensional lens that distinguishes between (i) skill use in tasks, reflecting the content of work, and (ii) workplace resources and organisational conditions that support how work is carried out. Using this approach, the paper analyses patterns across PIAAC participating countries, with selected comparisons to Nordic economies where data is available. The findings show that while higher-skill sectors and professional roles tend to perform relatively well internationally, they do not always exhibit correspondingly high levels of task discretion. More notably, substantial gaps are observed in lower-skill sectors and among non-professional workers, where outcomes are significantly weaker in Singapore compared to comparable sectors in countries such as Finland. These differences suggest that alternative ways of organising work, particularly in lower-skill contexts, can yield more supportive and developmental work environments. The analysis also highlights that the role of wages is limited. In Singapore, higher wages are primarily associated with job satisfaction, while job design and workplace resources show stronger and more consistent relationships with social outcomes such as social trust and political efficacy. Across countries, greater task discretion is consistently associated with higher levels of job satisfaction. At the same time, the paper acknowledges that PIAAC provides only a partial view of health and social outcomes, and that these measures should be interpreted with caution. Overall, the findings suggest that differences in how work is organised - particularly in terms of task structure, autonomy, and workplace support—play a critical role in shaping worker outcomes. The paper discusses implications for understanding variation across sectors and countries, and highlights the importance of organisational practices in supporting more inclusive and developmental forms of work.
Vocational Education, Skills Use and Perceived Skills (Mis)match in the Czech Republic: Evidence from PIAAC
Petra Holeckova, National Pedagogical Institute, Czech Republic
The study focuses on Czech adults with vocational education without “maturita” (graduates of an apprenticeship program, ISCED 2011 353), using the second cycle of PIAAC data. Apprenticeship programs have traditionally held a strong position in the Czech Republic, even though the literature suggests that dual tracks of academic and vocational learning reinforce educational inequalities and worsen the prospects of apprenticeship program graduates over the life cycle. The main objective of this study is to investigate how graduates of apprenticeship programs in the Czech Republic are affected by their educational background in terms of skill acquisition and labour market outcomes. Specifically, the study aims to: (1) examine the relationship between educational attainment, economic activity, and the subjectively perceived mismatch between skills and labour market demands among adults; (2) analyse how graduates of apprenticeship programs perceive educational requirements for their professions, particularly whether a high school diploma is viewed as a requisite for current job; and (3) identify which skills adults consider mismatched with their current position. Descriptive statistics and binary logistic regression are used to address these objectives. Graduates of apprenticeship programs are statistically more likely than adults with higher education to be economically inactive. However, those who are employed tend to assess their skills as adequate or exceeding the requirements of their positions. In the Czech Republic, a segment of the labour market remains composed of occupations that offer limited opportunities to use and develop foundational skills. This dynamic has the potential to widen the gap between adults at the lowest and highest skill levels, which may pose a challenge to social cohesion. Due to the absence of data on perceived skill deficits in personal life, it is not possible to directly evaluate how adults view their skills outside their current occupations. A further limitation is introduced by the cross-sectional design of PIAAC, although the findings from the second cycle are consistent with results from the first cycle and the IALS survey.
Parity of esteem? A job-task lens on the labour market fortunes of vocational graduates relative to academic graduates across two PIAAC cycles
Sahara Sadik, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
Ying Chia, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
Jazreel Tan, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
Megan Huang, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
This investigation examines the labour market fortunes of vocational graduates relative to academic graduates, focusing on their access to meaningful employment and equitable wages across two cycles of PIAAC in six countries. Analysis is ongoing; this abstract presents preliminary findings, with full results to be shared at the conference if accepted. Understanding vocational outcomes is key to assessing whether non-elite education provides sustainable pathways into skilled jobs that are sustained over time for meaningful opportunities in the middle of the labour market. However, such analyses are challenging due to selection into education tracks—that is, individuals entering vocational versus academic routes may differ systematically in ability, preferences, and entry into job types (Shavit & Müller, 2000). In this regard, following Araki (2020), PIAAC is especially valuable because it:
• measures workers’ literacy and numeracy proficiency independently of their qualifications;
• assesses job task requirements separately from workers’ credentials;
• enables systematic cross-country comparisons over time using the same variables for vocational outcomes to be analysed across different national institutional contexts.
For a more contextually grounded assessment, this study examines the labour market fortunes of vocational graduates across six countries selected using the ‘varieties of capitalism’ framework (Hall & Soskice, 2001) that captures how different institutional systems shape skill formation and employment outcomes. The six countries are grouped as follows:
Type of system Countries
Developmental states Singapore, South Korea
Coordinated market economies Finland, Sweden
Liberal market economies US and UK
Results for Singapore show a decline in the relative fortunes of vocational graduates between PIAAC cycles: even those with high skill proficiency are less able to access high-task jobs, and when they do, they earn less than their degree-holding counterparts. This occurs despite sustained national efforts to promote skills development over the life course through the SkillsFuture movement. One explanation is Singapore’s deeper integration into the global economy in the last decade that expanded demand for roles linked to APAC headquarters and R&D functions. These jobs tend to prioritise degree credentials, increasing their value as a positional good and disadvantaging vocational pathways. In contrast, Finland has been able to grow opportunities for vocational graduates between PIAAC cycles. One explanation is the structure of Finnish economy that focuses on creating home-grown innovations in contrast to Singapore’s global hub strategy.
Identifying Job Satisfaction Factors across Europe: A Machine Learning Approach Using PIAAC
Ludmila Fadejeva, Central Bank of Latvia, Latvia
Jeļena Muhina, Ministry of Education and Science / University of Latvia, Latvia
Job satisfaction is one of the central outcome in labour economics, reflecting both individual well-being and labour market efficiency. Despite an extensive empirical literature, there is limited evidence on how the relative importance of its determinants varies across European countries. This study addresses this gap by exploiting the data of the OECD Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), which provides harmonised, cross-country data combining information on individuals’ cognitive skills, job-task content, education, relative income, personal and workplace characteristics. The richness of PIAAC enables a consistent assessment of job satisfaction drivers while accounting for individual and country level heterogeneity. The analysis focuses on several key dimensions determined in the previous literature. First, it examines education and skills mismatch, addressing whether over-qualification or skill underutilisation is associated with lower job satisfaction. Second, it considers the role of training, exploring whether access to skill development mitigates dissatisfaction linked to mismatch. Third, we explore career progression opportunities and intrinsic job characteristics -such as autonomy, task content, and managerial support - alongside with extrinsic factors including compensation and relative compensation as comparing to profession average. Fourth, we take into account health self-assessment and personal characteristics. Together, these dimensions provide a comprehensive framework for understanding job satisfaction as a multidimensional outcome shaped by both intrinsic and extrinsic job attributes across Europe. We contribute to the existing literature by applying tree-based machine learning approaches, specifically random forests and boosted forests, to identify the relative importance of job satisfaction factors across countries. Unlike conventional parametric models, these methods flexibly capture nonlinearities and high-dimensional interactions between determinants without imposing restrictive functional form assumptions. This is particularly relevant in the context of job satisfaction, where the interplay between individual characteristics, job attributes, and institutional factors is likely complex and heterogeneous. The methodological approach allows for a data-driven ranking of determinants within each country, thereby uncovering cross-country differences in job satisfaction. By combining the richness of PIAAC data with flexible machine learning techniques, our study offers new insights into the heterogeneity of job satisfaction determinants in Europe and provides a complementary perspective to the existing econometric literature.
Beyond Wages: How Task Structure and Workplace Support Shape Worker Outcomes Across Countries
Bao Zhen Tan, Institute for Adult Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singpore
Aggie Choo, Institute for Adult Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
Megan Huang, Institute for Adult Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore
This paper examines how work is structured and supported across countries using data from the second cycle of the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC). It applies a two-dimensional lens that distinguishes between (i) skill use in tasks, reflecting the content of work, and (ii) workplace resources and organisational conditions that support how work is carried out. Using this approach, the paper analyses patterns across PIAAC participating countries, with selected comparisons to Nordic economies where data is available. The findings show that while higher-skill sectors and professional roles tend to perform relatively well internationally, they do not always exhibit correspondingly high levels of task discretion. More notably, substantial gaps are observed in lower-skill sectors and among non-professional workers, where outcomes are significantly weaker in Singapore compared to comparable sectors in countries such as Finland. These differences suggest that alternative ways of organising work, particularly in lower-skill contexts, can yield more supportive and developmental work environments. The analysis also highlights that the role of wages is limited. In Singapore, higher wages are primarily associated with job satisfaction, while job design and workplace resources show stronger and more consistent relationships with social outcomes such as social trust and political efficacy. Across countries, greater task discretion is consistently associated with higher levels of job satisfaction. At the same time, the paper acknowledges that PIAAC provides only a partial view of health and social outcomes, and that these measures should be interpreted with caution. Overall, the findings suggest that differences in how work is organised - particularly in terms of task structure, autonomy, and workplace support—play a critical role in shaping worker outcomes. The paper discusses implications for understanding variation across sectors and countries, and highlights the importance of organisational practices in supporting more inclusive and developmental forms of work.