Job skill requirements in OECD countries: Levels, trends, distributions, drivers, and implications

Lecture by Prof. Michael J. Handel, Northeastern University, Boston

Interest in job skill requirements has grown for many years in a number of countries due to concerns over the relative performance of education systems, economic competitiveness, and the rate and character of technological change. Much of this debate was conducted with relatively limited hard information on the skills people used on their jobs. Recent improvements in survey data allow these questions to be addressed in much greater depth than before. This talk will present results from national and comparative surveys that address questions of level and trends in job skill requirements, education linkages, skills mismatch, and skill-biased technological change.

The talk will be held in the colloquium series, organized by WZB's research area on Education, Work, and Life Chances.