Occupational specificity: A new measurement based on training curricula and its effect on labor market outcomes

an article by Christian Eggenberger and Uschi Backes-Gellner (University of Zurich, Switzerland) and Miriam Rinawi (Swiss National Bank, Zurich, Switzerland) published in Labour Economics Volume 51 (April 2018)

Highlights

• We introduce a new empirical measure for the specificity of human capital.
• It uses single skills within occupational training curricula and their bundling.
• We investigate labor market returns of more or less specific training occupations.
• We find a trade-off between occupations with higher returns vs higher flexibility.

Abstract

This paper proposes a new measurement for the specificity of occupations based on a content analysis of training curricula that we link to labor market demands. We apply Lazear's (2009) skill weights approach and test predictions on labor market outcomes derived from his theory.

We find clear evidence of a trade-off between earning higher returns with more specific training and higher occupational mobility with less specific training.

Our measure improves the micro-foundation of human capital specificity and provides an evidence-based approach to evaluate the specificity of training curricula.

JEL Classification: I20, J24, J62

Oh how I wish that I was still involved with classification and specificity of occupations etc. Ah well, I can still read the full article in the British Library and enjoy myself.

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