Higher Education and the School-Work Mismatch in an Evolving Labor Market

Abstract

In relation to an evolving labor market, the main focus of this paper is to examine whether the traditional model of higher education is effectively matching graduate skills to labor market demand. In light of a growing student debt burden and proposals for significant expansions in higher education funding aid, this paper also assesses the orthodox view that a traditional college education is a human capital investment that yields a growing college wage premium. The paper reviews the existing literature on the school-work skills mismatch and concludes that there may be a need to rethink higher education policies to prepare future generations for an increasingly dynamic and evolving labor market.