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Skills, Skill Use at Work, and Earnings of American Workers The Impact of Human Capital in the American Labor Market Series PIAAC

Author(s):
Fogg, Neeta P.; Harrington, Paul E.; Khatiwada, Ishwar; Kirsch, Irwin; Sands, Anita M.
Publication Year:
2022
Source:
Report of the ETS Center for Research on Human Capital and Education
Document Type:
Report
Page Count:
72
Subject/Key Words:
Human Capital, Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), Educational Attainment, Cognitive Skills, Work Experience, Literacy Skills, Numeracy Skills, Higher Education, Labor Market, School-to-Work Transition, Earnings, Employment

Abstract

This report is the sixth in a series of papers designed to study the role of foundational skills in the American labor market. Previous papers analyzed the connection between literacy and numeracy skills, which serve as important measures of human capital, and the earnings of prime-age full-time workers, part-time workers, and employed college graduates. Other papers examined critical linkages between skills and nonpecuniary outcomes such as employment status. Although each of these reports reveal a strong positive link between literacy and numeracy skills and labor market outcomes, there is an important factor that these reports have not addressed—the use of skills at work. As with the previous reports in the series, this new report relies on the rich source of data from the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC), including direct assessment of literacy and numeracy skills and a host of information on education, income, and other demographic characteristics. But what is unique in this report is that it also utilizes detailed data on skill use including the frequency with which respondents reported using reading, numeracy, and writing skills in their job.

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