Does overeducation cause income punishment? This is a controversial topic for a long-standing in the field of education matching. This study focuses on over education in the Chinese urban labor market, using the datasets from Chinese General Social Survey(CGSS 2003-2015) to examine the wage effect of overeducation.The conclusions are as follows:Firstly, by improving the measurement method of educational matching, it founds that 35% of respondents have been overeducated in the urban labor market.Secondly, linear regression results show that excessive education can cause income penalty, which persists over survey periods. Thirdly, instrumental variable model，including the national college entrance examination admission rate by years and the proportion of professionals and technicians by provinces，demonstrates that overeducation can cause income penalty.The above conclusions suggests the importance of macroeconomic policies to promote the matching between education and occupation, which is of great significance to facilitate better employment of the labor force．
