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The significance of firm and occupation specific human capital for hiring and promotions

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  • Kwon, Illoong
  • Meyersson Milgrom, Eva M.

Abstract

This paper analyzes firms' hiring and promotion patterns, and infers the relative significance of the firm- and occupation-specific human capital required for each job rank. The results suggest that firm-specific skills are just as valuable as occupation-specific skills, and that the value of these specific skills increases in job rank. However, there is great heterogeneity across occupations. This paper also shows that the lengths of firm- and occupation-tenure are noisy measures of firm- and occupation-specific human capital, and contrasts our results with those of other recent studies on the returns to firm- and occupation-tenure for wages.

Suggested Citation

  • Kwon, Illoong & Meyersson Milgrom, Eva M., 2014. "The significance of firm and occupation specific human capital for hiring and promotions," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 162-173.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:labeco:v:31:y:2014:i:c:p:162-173
    DOI: 10.1016/j.labeco.2014.07.003
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    Cited by:

    1. Bredemeier, Christian & Juessen, Falko & Winkler, Roland, 2017. "Man-cessions, fiscal policy, and the gender composition of employment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 73-76.
    2. Ronald Bachmann & Peggy Bechara & Christina Vonnahme, 2020. "Occupational Mobility in Europe: Extent, Determinants and Consequences," De Economist, Springer, vol. 168(1), pages 79-108, March.
    3. Peter Bußwolder & Swetlana Dregert & Peter Letmathe, 2019. "Consequences of Unfair Job Promotions in Organizations," Schmalenbach Business Review, Springer;Schmalenbach-Gesellschaft, vol. 71(1), pages 3-26, February.
    4. Matthias Kräkel, 2016. "Human Capital Investment and Work Incentives," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 627-651, September.
    5. Simon Dato & Andreas Grunewald & Matthias Kräkel, 2021. "Worker visibility and firms' retention policies," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 30(1), pages 168-202, February.
    6. Gibbons Eric M. & Mukhopadhyay Sankar, 2020. "New Evidence on International Transferability of Human Capital," IZA Journal of Development and Migration, Sciendo & Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 11(1), pages 1-39, January.
    7. Eliza Forsythe, 2019. "Careers within Firms: Occupational Mobility Over the Lifecycle," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 33(3), pages 241-277, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Firm-specific human capital; Occupation-specific human capital; Promotions;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J62 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Job, Occupational and Intergenerational Mobility; Promotion
    • M51 - Business Administration and Business Economics; Marketing; Accounting; Personnel Economics - - Personnel Economics - - - Firm Employment Decisions; Promotions

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