The Task Content of Occupations

25 Pages Posted: 17 Dec 2018

See all articles by Francis Kramarz

Francis Kramarz

National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) - National School for Statistical and Economic Administration (ENSAE); National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) - Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST)

Alexis Maitre

Institut d’Etudes Politiques

Abstract

This paper evaluates how an increase in the supply of skilled labor affects task assignment within and between occupations. Guided by a simple theoretical framework, we exploit detailed information about individual workers' tasks from multiple surveys to examine the impact of a twofold rise in the share of university graduates in the French workforce between 1991 and 2013. Our identification strategy uses variation in the change in the graduate share across local labor markets. We find that higher average educational attainment is associated with more routine, fewer cognitive and fewer social tasks within occupations and with fewer routine, more cognitive and more social tasks across occupations.

Keywords: task, supply shock, routine tasks, cognitive tasks, social tasks

JEL Classification: J21, J24, J31

Suggested Citation

Kramarz, Francis and Maitre, Alexis, The Task Content of Occupations. IZA Discussion Paper No. 12006, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3301779 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3301779

Francis Kramarz

National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) - National School for Statistical and Economic Administration (ENSAE) ( email )

92245 Malakoff Cedex
France

National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) - Center for Research in Economics and Statistics (CREST)

15 Boulevard Gabriel Peri
Malakoff Cedex, 1 92245
France

Alexis Maitre

Institut d’Etudes Politiques ( email )

Paris
France

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