Underemployment is a labour condition where an employee doesn’t use his or her full capacity and skills. If you’ve been working as a cook but an IT graduate, then you’re underemployed. Economists, sociologists, HR personnel, employers and job seekers use the term to describe job market trends or career development. Here we discuss underemployment effects and what to do with it.

Two types of Underemployment

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development views underemployment in two types.

Invisible underemployment 

This refers to employees who work full-time jobs but not using their educational background or skills. For example, 

• Mr John Smith, who is an electrical engineering graduate, works  as a salesman
• Miss Jane, who is an agricultural science graduate, works as a medical representative.
• Mr. Niel is working as a fast food service crew despite being an accounting graduate.

Visible underemployment

This refers to employees who work part-time or only for a few hours to make ends meet.

What makes underemployment undesirable

It makes your resume look bad

If you stumble upon meticulous hiring personnel or stringent hiring processes you might not pass the hiring process. They will look into your educational background and skills set and ask why you’re now flipping burgers instead of designing websites which should be your main job. The hiring manager might question your ability to excel should he/she decides to hire you.

It can lead you to the misdirected path

Doing jobs of various positions or consecutive job titles after a year or two can lead you to diverted careers. You’ll have difficulty deciding if you want to pursue plan A or plan B. At this point, you end up in a comfort zone or underemployed or face a difficulty of mastering a specific skill or skill set.

You might not work at your full capacity

It’s likely that you aren’t enthusiastic to work or excel because what you’re doing isn’t in your interest. The result...you perform at a fair or average performance. Some life stories show that people who are passionate or like what they are doing tend to succeed in their fields.

Waste of time and resources

Since you’re not using your full capacity, skills and education, you may end up not using your years of education - an investment of years of studying and training. In the end, after years of working then deciding to return to continue your original profession, you have difficulty applying to your intended career.

You might not get your dream job

Everyone goes through a life stage as a kid who dreams to be a pilot, teacher, accountant, doctor, nurse, etc. The very purpose of studying at college or university is to prepare you for fruitful employment and avoid ending up living for the rest of your life with diplomas that only function as a filler for your resume. While no one can predict 100% what lies ahead of time, planning to avoid underemployed is one way to avoid losing your dream job. When you can’t use your 4 or 5-year degree to earn a decent salary, you might take a detour.

Causes of underemployment 

Supply and demand

The law of supply and demand functions in the labor market as well. When the supply of labor exceeds the employer demands, unemployment and underemployment are inevitable. When the volume of graduates of a certain course or degree is too high and graduates are vying for the same position, many will tend to accept any job just to pay the bills rather than endure months or a year of unemployment. The price you must pay for being underemployed is you risk forgetting your skills and years of education.

Technological changes or trends

Back to the 1990s, many occupations flourished in telecommunications, entertainment, energy and transportation. Science fiction writers predict that robots, tablets and holograms will be common in the early decades of the new millennium. Few people thought advancements in mobile communication will replace telephone operators in the early 2000s. Forums, websites, blogs and videos described that someday a robot could replace a human worker. You may have seen cash deposit ATMs already replacing the task of a human bank teller.

Economic cycle

Businesses experience economic cycles. Visualised in waves - sometimes at the crest and sometimes at a trough. A prolonged and continuing downward economy brought by pandemic, natural disasters and complex financial crisis can lead to recession. Hiring managers will settle for a part-time worker to save on rents, utilities and wages.

How to survive an underemployment

Seek a freelance or part-time work

While working underemployed, capitalise on your side skills whether it’s designing social media posts, writing blogs and translating between languages. You can use video streaming sites (e.g. Youtube, Vimeo) to upload your video blogs about cooking tips and ghost hunting. You can make homemade products such as dioramas, desserts, snacks, and keychains. Apply to companies seeking part-time workers who are either needed to work from home or in-house.

Boost your monthly savings

Save every 15th or 30th of the month. Trim your expenses by reducing wants and keeping needs. If you can find cost-savings for your needs, that’s better. Here are the places you can save your money:

• Stable bank savings account
• Cooperative
• Stocks and bonds

Volunteer in your free time

Surely, you won’t be working 24/7. So you’ll have free time on weekends or within weekdays. You can use that to volunteer for part-time jobs related in your chosen profession. Let’s say, you’re a medical technologist, find a clinic or hospital with volunteer vacancies. Leverage social media, email and search engine for research. By volunteering, you’re gaining experience and skills which you can use to back up your resume when the time comes you apply for your dream job.

Study and train in your free time

Study on online schools (MOOCS or Massive Online Open Course Sites) which can be free or paid. On your day-off, you can retrain at schools related to your profession and course. Review through videos, ebooks, and physical books and pass certifications. In this way, even if you’re underemployed you keep your skills current.