Abstract
Abstract Using the 1979 and 1997 waves of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth, this paper shows that the growing return to social skills documented by Deming (2017. “The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market.” Quarterly Journal of Economics 132 (4): 1593–640) has been largely concentrated on college-educated workers, rather than on high school-educated workers. These findings are corroborated by the pronounced occupational sorting of college-educated workers into occupations requiring high levels of social skills. Moreover, the wage premium for college-educated workers employed in these occupations has increased markedly. Our empirical evidence provides one possible source of rising wage inequality within and between education levels.
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have