The research award of Eesti Pank has this year been won by Artemi Beljakov of Tallinn University of Technology for his Master’s thesis analysing the impact of education-job mismatch on individual earnings in the Estonian labour market. The research presents new and in-depth information on how many workers in Estonia have a level of education that does not match the job requirements and how this affects their earnings.

In his winning thesis “Education-job mismatch - implications for individual earnings in Estonia” Artemi Beljakov studied how the individual earnings of employees are affected by their over- or undereducation in comparison to the required job qualifications. The thesis also analysed the methods used for identifying the mismatch between actual and required education levels and factors that affect the relationship between educational mismatch and labour earnings.

This study is relevant for Estonia because the share of overeducated workers is relatively large in our economy compared to other European Union countries. In comparison to earlier similar research, Artemi Beljakov’s study presents more novel and in-depth evaluation of the extent of over- and undereducation  in Estonia. He uses data from 2009–2019 and finds that the extent of educational mismatch is similar to earlier findings in the literature. He also provides evidence that the pay of those who are undereducated is lower than was found by earlier studies.

The panel assessing the submissions for the research award noted that the strengths of the winning study were its systematic approach to the research question and excellent command of current empirical methods.  Artemi Beljakov’s Master’s thesis was defended in spring 2023 in the School of Business and Governance at Tallinn University of Technology. The research award is 2000 euros. The winning study is publicly available in the digital collection of Tallinn University of Technology: https://digikogu.taltech.ee/en/Item/777a03c9-5077-4614-84b0-52e2b856ce6f

Seven research articles were submitted for the competition of the Eesti Pank research awards this year. The  competing articles were assessed by a panel of experts from Eesti Pank, the University of Tartu and Tallinn University of Technology.

Background Information

The Eesti Pank research award in memory of Urmas Sepp is being granted for the 21st time in 2023. The research competition is intended to bring attention to outstanding research, to encourage TRscientific work in economics, and to promote studies that can lead to academic degrees. Urmas Sepp (1956–2002) was the head of the Eesti Pank macroeconomics department, later the economic research department, in 1993-2002.

Additional information:
Hanna Jürgenson
Communications Specialist
Eesti Pank
Tel: 5692 0930
Press enquiries: [email protected]