The Value of Prompting Skills

With the advent of generative artificial intelligence, prompting skills are becoming increasingly relevant in the workplace. Using a discrete choice experiment (DCE), we asked decision-makers on hiring in German firms in all sectors of the economy are asked to choose between job applicants with different skills bundles. Applicant profiles vary in five attributes: prompting skills, occupation-specific skills gaps, social skills, gender and salary expectations. We find that prompting skills increase applicants’ hiring probability by 4 percent and employers are willing to pay 2 percent above the average salary of a skilled worker in their firm. This WTP is modest compared to the WTP for having matching occupation-specific skills or high social skills. However, in large firms as well as firms that have adopted or are planning to adopt AI, high prompting skills increase applicant’s hiring probability by 9 percent. Moreover, prompting skills have some leverage to balance out low to intermediate social skills. Yet, higher prompting skills do not compensate for occupation-specific skills gaps. Instead of such a compensatory effect, the demand for prompting skills seems to upgrade skills requirements in jobs.