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Employer Learning and the “Importance†of Skills

Author

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  • Audrey Light
  • Andrew McGee
Abstract
We ask whether employer learning in the wage-setting process depends on skill type and skill importance to productivity, using measures of seven premarket skills and data for each skill’s importance to occupation-specific productivity. Before incorporating importance measures, we find evidence of employer learning for each skill type, for college and high school graduates, and for blue-and white-collar workers, but no evidence that employer learning varies significantly across skill or worker type. When we allow parameters identifying employer learning and screening to vary by skill importance, we identify tradeoffs between learning and screening for some (but not all) skills.

Suggested Citation

  • Audrey Light & Andrew McGee, 2015. "Employer Learning and the “Importance†of Skills," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(1), pages 72-107.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:50:y:2015:i:1:p:72-107
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Wang, Jun & Li, Bo, 2020. "Does employer learning with statistical discrimination exist in China? Evidence from Chinese Micro Survey Data," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 319-333.
    3. Torberg Falch & Astrid Marie Jorde Sandsør & Bjarne Strøm, 2017. "Do Smaller Classes Always Improve Students’ Long-run Outcomes?," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 79(5), pages 654-688, October.
    4. Ganzach, Yoav & Patel, Pankaj C., 2018. "Wages, mental abilities and assessments in large scale international surveys: Still not much more than g," Intelligence, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1-7.
    5. Seik Kim & Emiko Usui, 2021. "Employer learning, job changes, and wage dynamics," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 59(3), pages 1286-1307, July.

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