Education-occupation mismatch and social networks for Hispanics in the U.S.: role of citizenship

Abstract

Using a sample of college-educated Hispanics from the 2016–2017 American Community Survey we examine the role of potential social networks on the education-occupation mismatch for Hispanics in the U.S. To do this, we use a novel data-driven index to measure the degree of education-occupation mismatch, while potential networks are measured using the share of Hispanics at the MSA level. We find that networks improve job-match quality for college-educated Hispanics, with effects that are significantly larger for Hispanic citizens when networks consist of the proportion of Hispanics with college degrees. Our findings are robust to other indices of education mismatch.