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Multidimensional Skills on LinkedIn Profiles: Measuring Human Capital and the Gender Skill Gap

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Listed:
  • Dorn, David

    (University of Zurich)

  • Schoner, Florian

    (ifo Institute, University of Munich)

  • Seebacher, Moritz

    (ifo Institute, University of Munich)

  • Simon, Lisa

    (Revelio Labs)

  • Woessmann, Ludger

    (University of Munich)

Abstract

We measure human capital using the self-reported skill sets of nearly 9 million U.S. college graduates from professional profiles on LinkedIn. We aggregate skill strings into 48 clusters of general, occupation-specific, and managerial skills. Multidimensional skills can account for several important labor-market patterns. First, the number and composition of skills are systematically related to measures of human-capital investment such as education and work experience. The number of skills increases with experience, and the average age-skill profile closely resembles the well-established concave age-earnings profile. Second, workers who report more skills, especially specific and managerial ones, hold higher-paid jobs. Skill differences account for more earnings variation than detailed measures of education and experience. Third, we document a sizable gender gap in skills. While women and men report nearly equal numbers of skills shortly after college graduation, women’s skill count increases more slowly with age subsequently. A simple quantitative exercise shows that women’s slower skill accumulation can be fully accounted for by reduced work hours associated with motherhood. The resulting gender differences in skills rationaliz…

Suggested Citation

  • Dorn, David & Schoner, Florian & Seebacher, Moritz & Simon, Lisa & Woessmann, Ludger, 2025. "Multidimensional Skills on LinkedIn Profiles: Measuring Human Capital and the Gender Skill Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 17896, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
  • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp17896
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    online professional network; social media; experience; education; gender; human capital; skills; labor market; tasks; earnings;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I26 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Returns to Education
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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