After spending years and significant financial investment to earn a university degree, why do people take jobs outside of their field of study? The lack of jobs in their area of education must have forced these workers into a mismatch, right? At least, that’s what many people assume. But this is not the full story. To be sure, labor market conditions are important. Yet even in STEM fields where unemployment rates are low, many highly trained scientists still work in jobs outside of their field of education.