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The Value of Early-Career Skills

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  • Simon Wiederhold
  • Christina Langer

Abstract

We develop novel measures of early-career skills that are more detailed, comprehensive, and labor-market-relevant than existing skill proxies. We exploit that skill requirements of apprenticeships in Germany are codified in state-approved, nationally standardized apprenticeship plans. These plans provide more than 13,000 different skills and the exact duration of learning each skill. Following workers over their careers in administrative data, we find that cognitive, social, and digital skills acquired during apprenticeship are highly – yet differently – rewarded. We also document rising returns to digital and social skills since the 1990s, with a more moderate increase in returns to cognitive skills.

Suggested Citation

  • Simon Wiederhold & Christina Langer, 2023. "The Value of Early-Career Skills," Growth Lab Working Papers 204, Harvard's Growth Lab.
    • Handle: RePEc:glh:wpfacu:204
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    Cited by:

    1. Oliver Falck & Yuchen Guo & Christina Langer & Valentin Lindlacher & Simon Wiederhold, 2024. "Training, Automation, and Wages: International Worker-Level Evidence," CESifo Working Paper Series 11533, CESifo.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    returns to skills; apprenticeship plans; labor market; earnings; early-career skills;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • 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

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