Skills mismatch, productivity and policies : evidence from the second wave of PIAAC

This paper extends earlier OECD work exploring the link between skills mismatch, productivity and policies to include the countries in the second wave of OECD Survey of Adult Skills, with a special focus on New Zealand. We find that the percentage of workers who are mismatched in terms of skills is 28% in New Zealand, slightly over the OECD average of 25%. The share of over-skilling is at the OECD average of 18%, while the share of under-skilling - at around 10% - is also above the OECD average of 7%. The results suggest that improving the allocation of skills to OECD best practice could be associated with an increase in productivity of around 7% in New Zealand.