Are Highly Educated Young Women Underutilized? Gender Differences in the Wage Penalties of Overqualification in South Korea

Abstract Rapid tertiary-education expansion has increased overqualification in South Korea, but its wage consequences may differ by gender and by how mismatch is measured. Using Youth Panel 2007 (waves 2007–2020) and measures of overeducation and overskilling, this paper estimated pooled OLS and individual fixed-effects models. In pooled estimates overeducation was associated with lower wages for both genders, while the penalty from simultaneous overeducation and overskilling was larger for women. Fixed-effects estimates confirmed a persistent penalty for women after accounting for time-invariant unobserved heterogeneity, whereas the male penalty attenuates. This gendered pattern is consistent with assignment and segmentation mechanisms in which long-hours norms, internal labor markets, and gendered expectations channel women into jobs that underutilize credentials while rewarding firm-specific fit over formal credentials. These results highlight the need for policies that improve match quality and reduce gendered constraints on mobility, including transparent hiring and promotion, work-time reform, and family-compatible career paths.