IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/anr/reveco/v17y2025p397-425.html

Skills and Earnings: A Multidimensional Perspective on Human Capital

Author

Listed:
  • Ludger Woessmann

    (ifo Institute and CESifo, University of Munich, Munich, Germany
    Hoover Institution, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA
    Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn, Germany)

Abstract

The multitude of tasks performed in the labor market requires skills in many dimensions. Traditionally, human capital has been proxied primarily by educational attainment. However, an expanding body of literature highlights the importance of various skill dimensions for success in the labor market. This article examines the returns to cognitive, personality, and social skills, which are three important dimensions of basic skills. Recent advances in text analysis of online job postings and professional networking platforms offer novel methods for assessing a wider range of applied skill dimensions and their labor market relevance. Synthesis and integration of the evidence of the relationship between multidimensional skills and earnings, including the matching of skill supply and demand, will enhance our understanding of the role of human capital in the labor market.

Suggested Citation

  • Ludger Woessmann, 2025. "Skills and Earnings: A Multidimensional Perspective on Human Capital," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 17(1), pages 397-425, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:anr:reveco:v:17:y:2025:p:397-425
    DOI: 10.1146/annurev-economics-081324-081733
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-economics-081324-081733
    Download Restriction: Full text downloads are only available to subscribers. Visit the abstract page for more information.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1146/annurev-economics-081324-081733?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Yugang He, 2026. "RETRACTED ARTICLE: Beyond GDP: national intelligence quotient as a catalyst for sustainable socioeconomic welfare," Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 13(1), pages 1-15, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:anr:reveco:v:17:y:2025:p:397-425. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: http://www.annualreviews.org (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.annualreviews.org .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.