Data extracted on 7 July 2026
Planned article update: July 2027
Highlights
Between 2015 and 2025, non-EU citizens resident in the EU consistently had the highest over-qualification rates, though these decreased from 45.2% to 41.4%; rates for other EU citizens dropped from 33.8% to 30.2%, while nationals remained lowest and stable at about 21-20%.
This article presents European Union (EU) statistics on over-qualified employed persons, providing insights into how foreign citizens compare with nationals in terms of skills and successful participation in the labour market.
Over-qualified employed people are those with a tertiary level of educational attainment (hereafter referred to as tertiary-educated people) working in low- or medium-skilled occupations. This may also be referred to as a 'vertical' skills mismatch.
The article presents information by citizenship and by country of birth, and provides additional analyses by age and by sex. Individuals are classified by citizenship as either nationals (citizens of the reporting country) or non-nationals of the country in which they reside. Non-nationals are further divided into 2 groups: those who hold the citizenship of another EU country and those who hold the citizenship of a non-EU country. According to the concept of country of birth, the population is classified as either native-born (individuals born in the reporting country) or foreign-born. Foreign-born are further divided into 2 groups: those born in another EU country and those born in a non-EU country.
This article forms part of the online publication on migrant integration statistics.
Overview of the over-qualification rate
Effective participation in the labour market requires both skills and qualifications. The highest level of educational attainment offers valuable insight into the skills that workforce participants bring to the market.
In 2025, over-qualification was highest among non-EU citizens at 41.4% (Figure 1). This rate was up from 39.8% in 2024, and represented the highest value since 2020. By contrast, in 2025, the rate fell slightly to 30.2% for citizens of other EU countries and stayed lowest for nationals at 20.0%. Women continued to be more affected by over-qualification than men, especially among non-EU citizens.
When analysed by country of birth, a broadly similar pattern emerges, although the differences between the 3 groups were smaller (Figure 2). From 2005 to 2025, people born outside the EU consistently had the highest over-qualification rates, with women in this group being most affected. Native-born people consistently experienced the lowest rates.
Over-qualification rate by EU countries and citizenship
In 2025, over-qualification rates differed across EU countries and citizenship groups.
Typically, nationals had the lowest rates, while non-EU citizens had the highest (Figure 3). The exceptions were Ireland and Cyprus, where citizens of other EU countries recorded the highest over-qualification rates. Greece reported the highest over-qualification rates for non-EU men and women (85.4% and 85.3%, respectively). Gender disparities were notably wide in Italy and Cyprus. In contrast, Germany had relatively balanced rates between men and women across all 3 citizenship groups.
Figure 4 illustrates the over-qualification rates broken down by age groups. Among 20 to 34-year-olds, the over-qualification rate was 37.6% for non-EU citizens, compared with 28.0% for citizens of other EU countries and 21.8% for nationals. Among 35 to 64-year-olds, the rates were even higher for non-EU citizens and citizens of other EU countries, at 44.1% and 31.1% respectively, while the rate for nationals was lower, at 19.3%.
In most countries, non-EU citizens had the highest over-qualification rates. In Greece, the rates reached 83.2% for age group 20-34 and 86.9% for age group 35-64. High rates were also recorded in Czechia, Estonia, Spain, Italy and Portugal. Nationals usually had the lowest rates, although these still varied greatly between countries. Older foreign citizens often had higher over-qualification rates than younger adults, especially among non-EU citizens.
Over-qualification rate by EU countries and country of birth
Figures 5 and 6 present over-qualification rates by country of birth. Overall, the patterns are broadly similar to those observed earlier for citizenship, although differences between the 3 groups are less pronounced.
In the EU in 2025, over-qualification was much more common among people born outside the EU (35.7%) than among those born in another EU country (26.8%) or in the reporting country (19.6%) (Figure 5). Women born outside the EU had the highest rate overall, at 37.7%, compared with 33.7% for men in the same group. The majority of the EU countries observed the strongest disadvantages for non-EU-born people, with especially high rates in Greece (58.4%), Estonia (52.2%) and Italy (50.4%). Native-born people generally had the lowest over-qualification rates, although some countries still recorded notable levels, such as Spain (32.1%) and Greece (30.7%).
Figure 6 illustrates the over-qualification rates broken down by country of birth and age groups.
In 2025, over-qualification rates among non-EU-born people were relatively high in both age groups, although the pattern varied across countries. Among those aged 20-34 years, particularly high rates were observed in Greece, Estonia and Czechia. For the older age group, aged 35-64 years, over-qualification rates for the non-EU-born population were also high and exceeded 50.0% in Estonia, Greece, Italy and Poland.
By contrast, native-born people generally recorded lower over-qualification rates in both age groups. The overall pattern was observed in most countries, with only a few exceptions. In France, among people aged 20-34 years, the over-qualification rate for people born in another EU country was lower than that for the native-born population of the same age. In Croatia, among those aged 35-64 years, the over-qualification rate for non-EU-born people was lower than that recorded for native-born people.
Source data for graphs
The data displayed in these visualisations come from the following Eurostat datasets:
- Over-qualification rates by citizenship [lfsa_eoqgan];
- Over-qualification rates by country of birth [lfsa_eoqgac].
For information on data reliability, breaks in series and differences in definitions, refer to the flags in the source dataset.
Data sources
The data presented in this article are from the EU labour force survey (EU-LFS), the largest household sample survey in the EU. The survey covers the resident population in private households. As such, people living in collective households are excluded from the target population. The concept of usual residence is used, which means the place where a person normally spends the daily period of rest, regardless of temporary absences for purposes of recreation, holidays, visits to friends and relatives, business, medical treatment or religious pilgrimage. The data for the EU are aggregated results for the 27 EU countries. For more information on the data sources used, please consult the online publication EU labour force survey.
Due to the sampling nature of the survey, some data have low reliability or are not published due to very low reliability or confidentiality.
Over-qualification rate
The over-qualification rate is calculated for employed persons with a tertiary level of educational attainment (international standard classification of education (ISCED) levels 5–8). The rate shows the proportion of these people who are employed in a low- or medium-skilled occupation (international standard classification of occupations (ISCO) major groups 4–9). More information on tertiary education and low- or medium-skilled occupation is provided in the Data sources section of this article.
Main concepts
An employed person is someone aged 15–89 years who, during the reference week of the labour force survey, performed work – even if just for one hour a week – for pay, profit or family gain. Also included are people who were not at work but had a job or business from which they were temporarily absent. Employment can be measured in terms of the number of persons or jobs, in full-time equivalents or in hours worked. All the estimates presented in this article use the number of persons.
Educational attainment refers to the highest level of education successfully completed. Educational levels are defined and classified in the international standard classification of education (ISCED). The levels of education used in this article are based on ISCED 2011. A high level of educational attainment refers to ISCED levels 5–8 (tertiary education).
- ISCED level 5: short-cycle tertiary education
- ISCED level 6: bachelor's or equivalent level
- ISCED level 7: master's or equivalent level
- ISCED level 8: doctoral or equivalent level
For the calculation of the tertiary educational attainment share, the numerator refers to persons aged 20–64 years with a tertiary educational attainment (ISCED level 5-8). The denominator is the total population of the same age group, excluding respondents who did not answer the question 'highest level of education or training successfully completed'.
Occupations of employed persons are defined and classified in the international standard classification of occupations (ISCO). The occupations used in this article are based on ISCO-08. At the highest level, ISCO-08 is composed of 10 major groups. Low or medium-skilled occupations include the following major groups.
- Major group 4: clerical support workers
- Major group 5: services and sales workers
- Major group 6: skilled agricultural, forestry and fishery workers
- Major group 7: craft and related trades workers
- Major group 8: plant and machine operators and assemblers
- Major group 9: elementary occupations
As such, the occupations that are not considered to be low or medium-skilled are managers, professionals, technicians and associate professionals, and armed forces occupations.
Context
Well-functioning labour markets depend largely on matching the skills and qualifications of the labour force to those sought by employers. Although some mismatches are inevitable (especially in rapidly developing sectors of the economy), high and persistent mismatches may be costly for employers, workers and society at large.
Education and skills mismatches are considered especially relevant for vulnerable groups, such as older workers, young people moving from education into work or migrants. One particular issue that impacts on non-EU citizens is (lower) recognition for their professional qualifications: EU citizens may benefit from initiatives such as the recognition of professional qualifications. Easier and more accessible recognition procedures, as well as opportunities for adult migrants to upgrade or equalise their qualifications, including access to lifelong learning, may help enhance the employability of migrants.
In November 2020, an Action Plan on Integration and Inclusion 2021–2027 (COM(2016) 377 final) was adopted with the purpose of fostering social cohesion and building inclusive societies for all. Inclusion for all is about ensuring that EU policies are accessible to and work for everyone, including migrants and EU citizens with a migrant background. This plan includes actions in four sectoral areas (education and training, employment and skills, health, and housing) as well as actions supporting effective integration and inclusion in all sectoral areas at the EU, Member State and regional levels, with a specific attention paid to young people.
Recent developments for the EU's overall immigration policy can be found in the Pact on Migration and Asylum that entered into application on 12 June 2026. The Pact includes important provisions on integration and provides a comprehensive approach that delivers a common European response to migration. It allows the EU to manage migration in a fair and sustainable way, ensuring solidarity between countries while also providing certainty and clarity for people arriving in the EU and protecting their fundamental rights. The Pact on Migration and Asylum will ensure that countries share the effort responsibly, showing solidarity with the ones that protect our external borders and with those facing particular migratory pressure, while preventing irregular migration to the EU. The Pact also gives the EU and its countries the tools to react rapidly in situations of crisis, when countries are faced with large numbers of arrivals or when a third-country or non-State entity tries to instrumentalise migrants in order to destabilise our Union.
More information on the policies and legislation in force in the area of migrant integration can be found here.
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Other articles
Database
- LFS series - detailed annual survey results (lfsa)
- Population – LFS series (lfsa_pop)
- Employment rates - LFS series (lfsa_emprt)
- Total unemployment - LFS series (lfsa_unemp)
- Employment (mii_emp)
- Unemployment (mii_une)
- Employment and self-employment (mii_em)
Thematic section
Publications
Methodology
- LFS series – Detailed annual survey results (ESMS metadata file – lfsa_esms)
- EU labour force survey