Overall Qualification Mismatch

This section provides an overview of both horizontal and vertical qualification mismatches in Malta for employed persons with a post-secondary level of education (ISCED 4) or higher. LFS results indicated that the majority of employed persons with this level of education (83.7 per cent) experienced one or both forms of qualification mismatch.

As depicted in Chart 1, 35.3 per cent of the employed population experienced both a vertical and horizontal mismatch. A further 36.1 per cent had  level of education mismatch and 12.4 per cent experienced  field of education mismatch.

Grafika 1. Diskrepanza ta' kwalifiki skont it-tip ta' nuqqas ta' qbil

Kwalifiki ġenerali ta' nuqqas ta' qbil skont is-sess

Differences in the share of qualification mismatch were reported among males and females. Full qualification mismatch was slightly higher for females when compared to males (35.7 per cent and 34.9 per cent respectively). Meanwhile, males experienced a higher level of education and field of education mismatch, 1.4 and 0.9 percentage points higher than their female counterparts.

Grafika 2. Diskrepanza ta' kwalifiki skont it-tip ta' nuqqas ta' qbil u s-sess

Nuqqas ta' qbil fil-kwalifiki ġenerali skont l-età

Is-sehem ta' persuni impjegati li l-kwalifika tagħhom, f'termini ta' livell u qasam, ma kinitx taqbel mal-impjieg tagħhom żdied bl-età. Fil-fatt, 32.7 fil-mija tal-dawk fil-grupp ta’ età bejn il-15 u l-34 sena, 36.5 fil-mija età bejn il-35 u l-54 sena u 40.2 fil-mija tal-grupp ta’ 55 sena u aktar kienu qed jaħdmu f’impjieg li ma kienx adattat kemm għal-livell ta’ edukazzjoni tagħhom kif ukoll għall-qasam li studjaw.

Vertical mismatch was more common among the 35 to 54 age group (39.1 per cent). However, the largest share of persons with a horizontal mismatch were 15 to 34 years old. The share was 3.1 percentage points higher when compared to the 35 to 54 age group.

Chart 3. Qualification mismatch by age group