This report studies the occupational mismatch phenomenon, focusing on mismatching in both education and skill. Using PIAAC we calculate several indicators of overeducation and overskilling, investigating how the different measures are related to each other and the differing effects of the mismatch on several European countries. We find that mismatches in education and skill respectively measure two separate domains, and that the majority of the European population is either overeducated or overskilled, but not both. Countries characterised by a more stratified educational system suffer mainly from overeducation, while top-performing countries in PISA and PIAAC suffer mainly from overskilling.

Over the last seven years, the Global Innovation Index (GII) has established itself as a leading reference on innovation. Understanding in more detail the human aspects behind innovation is essential for the design of policies that help promote economic development and richer innovation-prone environments locally. Recognizing the key role of innovation as a driver of economic growth and prosperity, and the need for a broad horizontal vision of innovation applicable to developed and emerging economies, the GII includes indicators that go beyond the traditional measures of innovation such as the level of research and development.

With the support of the Australian Government, the GII 2014 was launched on July 18, 2014 in Sydney, Australia. The launch was associated with the meeting of international business leaders (known as B20) which is part of Australia’s preparations to host the annual Group of Twenty (G20) Leaders Summit on November 15-16, 2014. In addition, regional launches will take place throughout the year in Asia, the Middle-East, North and Latin America.

The theme of the 2014 GII, the ‘Human Factor in Innovation’, explores the role of the individuals and teams behind the innovation process. Statistically capturing this human contribution to innovation is a daunting challenge. Even more complex are the challenges faced by all those who try to properly nurture the human factor in innovation. The importance of both individual and collective efforts of creators and scientists in the innovation process has been well documented in the literature. The results of the GII provide additional evidence of this significance.

A rich collection of analytical chapters within the GII 2014 shed light on different aspects required of human capital in order to achieve innovation, including the presence of skilled labour, the necessity of skills for successful innovation, higher education, the intersection of human capital, financial capital, and technological capital, retention of talent, and the mobilization of the highly educated.

The GII was submitted, for the fourth consecutive year, to an independent statistical audit by the JRC. The JRC recommendations, which aimed to ensure the overall conceptual and statistical coherence of the GII 2014, were taken into account in the final computation of the rankings and fully discussed in the main GII 2014 report. The choice of the GII team this year to use weights as scaling coefficients during the development of the index (the same choice that was made for the GII 2012 and 2013) constitutes a significant departure from the traditional vision of weights as a reflection of indicators’ importance in a weighted average. Such a consideration will, it is hoped, also be made by other developers of composite indicators.

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Past reports & JRC audits