Working Paper: NBER ID: w15116
Authors: David H. Autor; Michael J. Handel
Abstract: Employing original, representative survey data, we document that cognitive, interpersonal and physical job task demands can be measured with high validity using standard interview techniques. Job tasks vary substantially within and between occupations, are significantly related to workers' characteristics, and are robustly predictive of wage differentials both between occupations and among workers in the same occupation. We offer a conceptual framework that makes explicit the causal links between human capital endowments, occupational assignment, job tasks, and wages. This framework motivates a Roy (1951) model of the allocation of workers to occupations. Tests of the model's implication that 'returns to tasks' must negatively covary among occupations are strongly supported.
Keywords: human capital; job tasks; wages; labor market; Roy model
JEL Codes: J15; J16; J24; J31
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Human capital (J24) | Occupational choice (J29) |
| Occupational choice (J29) | Job tasks (M54) |
| Human capital and demographic characteristics (J24) | Job tasks (M54) |
| Job tasks (M54) | Wages (J31) |
| Job tasks (M54) | Wage differentials (J31) |
| Variation in job tasks (J29) | Earnings (J31) |
| Self-reported variation in job tasks (J29) | Wages (J31) |