The Growing Importance of Social Tasks in High-Paying Occupations: Implications for Sorting

We document that, since 1980, higher-paying occupations in the United States have experienced increases in the importance of tasks requiring social skills compared to lower-paying ones. Economic theory indicates that the occupational sorting of workers depends on their comparative advantage in perfo...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inThe Journal of human resources Vol. 58; no. 5; pp. 1429 - 1451
Main Authors Cortes, Guido Matias, Jaimovich, Nir, Siu, Henry E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Madison University of Wisconsin Press 01.09.2023
Subjects
Economic theory
Labor market
Occupational safety
Occupations
Social networks
Social skills
United States > US
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Summary:We document that, since 1980, higher-paying occupations in the United States have experienced increases in the importance of tasks requiring social skills compared to lower-paying ones. Economic theory indicates that the occupational sorting of workers depends on their comparative advantage in performing occupational tasks. Hence, changes in the relative importance of tasks across occupations change sorting. We document that the increasing relative importance of social tasks in high-paying occupations can account for an important fraction of the increased sorting of women relative to men towards these occupations in recent decades.
ISSN:0022-166X
1548-8004
DOI:10.3368/jhr.58.5.0121-11455R1