Are Skill Requirements Rising? Evidence from Production and Clerical Jobs

Peter H. Cappelli

118 citations0/0 files storedIndustrial and Labor Relations Review

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Labor market dynamics and wage inequality Employment, Labor, and Gender Studies Education and Labor Relations

Abstract

This paper examines changes in skill requirements for production jobs in 93 manufacturing establishments between 1978 and 1986 and clerical jobs in 211 firms between 1978 and 1988. The unique data set allows an analysis not only of changes in the distribution of employment across jobs—the usual approach—but also of changes in skill requirements within job titles. The results suggest that significant upskilling is occurring within most production jobs in manufacturing; shifts in the composition of the work force toward higher-skill production jobs contribute a smaller amount to the overall rise in average skill requirements. Changes in clerical jobs are more complicated and suggest an even split between jobs that were upskilled and those that were deskilled. The development of new office equipment appears to be associated with the deskilling of specific clerical jobs.

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References

2019American Economic Review 1975Development of the Job Diagnostic Survey.1974Labor and Monopoly Capital 1935The division of labor in society 1985The Second Industrial Divide 1935On the Division of Labor in Society 1976The Coming of the Post-Industrial Society 1974The Coming of Post-Industrial Society

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