How General is Specific Human Capital?
57 Pages Posted: 28 Nov 2006
Date Written: December 2006
Abstract
Previous studies assume that labor market skills are either fully general or specific to the firm. This paper uses patterns in mobility and wages to analyze how portable specific skills are in the labor market. The empirical analysis combines data on tasks performed in different jobs with a large panel on complete working histories and wages. Our results demonstrate that labor market skills are partially transferable across occupations. We find that individuals move to occupations with similar task requirements and that the distance of moves declines with time in the labor market. Further, tenure in the last occupation affects current wages, and the effect is stronger if the two occupations are similar. Our estimates suggest that task-specific human capital is the most important source of wage growth for university graduates. For the low- and medium-skilled, returns to task human capital are still sizeable, though smaller than for labor market experience.
Keywords: Specific Human Capital, Wage Growth, Mobility, Occupations
JEL Classification: J24, J41, J62
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
Do you want regular updates from SSRN on Twitter?
Recommended Papers
-
Specific Capital, Mobility, and Wages: Wages Rise with Job Seniority
-
Job Mobility and the Careers of Young Men
By Robert H. Topel and Michael P. Ward