IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/osf/socarx/bcyk6_v1.html

Cognitive Dominance in U.S. Labor Markets: Harmonizing Task Intensities, 1980–2014

Author

Listed:
  • Garcia-Couto, Santiago

Abstract

This paper constructs harmonized, multi-dimensional measures of occupational task intensities for the United States from 1980-2014 by reconciling the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and O*NET. The resulting indices allow task intensities to vary within occupations over time and are linked to Census and ACS microdata. I document a pronounced rise in the importance of cognitive tasks -"cognitive dominance"- driven by both increasing task intensity and higher associated wage gradients. This mechanism helps explain three major labor-market trends: wage polarization, the rising college wage premium, and the narrowing gender wage gap, with most task changes occurring within occupations.

Suggested Citation

  • Garcia-Couto, Santiago, 2025. "Cognitive Dominance in U.S. Labor Markets: Harmonizing Task Intensities, 1980–2014," SocArXiv bcyk6_v1, Center for Open Science.
    • Handle: RePEc:osf:socarx:bcyk6_v1
    DOI: 10.31219/osf.io/bcyk6_v1
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://osf.io/download/6931c10f5abd13ba8fcd2829/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.31219/osf.io/bcyk6_v1?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
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Edward W. Felten & Manav Raj & Robert Seamans, 2018. "A Method to Link Advances in Artificial Intelligence to Occupational Abilities," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 54-57, May.
    2. Alexandra Spitz-Oener, 2006. "Technical Change, Job Tasks, and Rising Educational Demands: Looking outside the Wage Structure," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 24(2), pages 235-270, April.
    3. Paul Beaudry & David A. Green & Benjamin M. Sand, 2016. "The Great Reversal in the Demand for Skill and Cognitive Tasks," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 34(S1), pages 199-247.
    4. Brad Hershbein & Lisa B. Kahn, 2018. "Do Recessions Accelerate Routine-Biased Technological Change? Evidence from Vacancy Postings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 108(7), pages 1737-1772, July.
    5. Erik Brynjolfsson & Tom Mitchell & Daniel Rock, 2018. "What Can Machines Learn, and What Does It Mean for Occupations and the Economy?," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 108, pages 43-47, May.
    6. David Deming & Lisa B. Kahn, 2018. "Skill Requirements across Firms and Labor Markets: Evidence from Job Postings for Professionals," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 36(S1), pages 337-369.
    7. Tyna Eloundou & Sam Manning & Pamela Mishkin & Daniel Rock, 2023. "GPTs are GPTs: An Early Look at the Labor Market Impact Potential of Large Language Models," Papers 2303.10130, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2023.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Harry Moroz & Mariana Viollaz, 2024. "The Future of Work in Central America and the Dominican Republic," World Bank Publications - Reports 42043, The World Bank Group.
    2. David J Deming & Kadeem Noray, 2020. "Earnings Dynamics, Changing Job Skills, and STEM Careers," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 135(4), pages 1965-2005.
    3. Lyu, Wenjing & Liu, Jin, 2021. "Soft skills, hard skills: What matters most? Evidence from job postings," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 300(C).
    4. Daly, Moira & Groes, Fane & Jensen, Mathias Fjællegaard, 2025. "Skill demand versus skill use: Comparing job posts with individual skill use on the job," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    5. Storm, Eduard, 2021. "Task specialization and the native-foreign wage gap: Evidence from worker-level data," Ruhr Economic Papers 928, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    6. Christina Gathmann & Felix Grimm & Erwin Winkler, 2024. "AI, Task Changes in Jobs, and Worker Reallocation," CESifo Working Paper Series 11585, CESifo.
    7. Eduard Storm, 2022. "Task specialization and the Native‐Foreign Wage Gap," LABOUR, CEIS, vol. 36(2), pages 167-195, June.
    8. Sugat Chaturvedi & Kanika Mahajan & Zahra Siddique, 2024. "Using Domain-Specific Word Embeddings to Examine the Demand for Skills," Research in Labor Economics, in: Big Data Applications in Labor Economics, Part B, volume 52, pages 171-223, Emerald Group Publishing Limited.
    9. Dario Guarascio & Jelena Reljic & Roman Stollinger, 2023. "Artificial Intelligence and Employment: A Look into the Crystal Ball," LEM Papers Series 2023/34, Laboratory of Economics and Management (LEM), Sant'Anna School of Advanced Studies, Pisa, Italy.
    10. Genz, Sabrina & Schnabel, Claus, 2021. "Digging into the digital divide: Workers' exposure to digitalization and its consequences for individual employment," Discussion Papers 118, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg, Chair of Labour and Regional Economics.
    11. David Dorn & Florian Schoner & Moritz Seebacher & Lisa Simon & Ludger Woessmann, 2024. "Multidimensional Skills on LinkedIn Profiles: Measuring Human Capital and the Gender Skill Gap," Papers 2409.18638, arXiv.org, revised May 2025.
    12. Emilio Colombo & Alberto Marcato, 2021. "Skill Demand and Labour Market Concentration: Theory and Evidence from Italian Vacancies," DISEIS - Quaderni del Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo dis2104, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Dipartimento di Economia internazionale, delle istituzioni e dello sviluppo (DISEIS).
    13. Avner Ben-Ner & Ainhoa Urtasun & Bledi Taska, 2023. "Effects of New Technologies on Work: The Case of Additive Manufacturing," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 76(2), pages 255-289, March.
    14. Daron Acemoglu & David Autor & Jonathon Hazell & Pascual Restrepo, 2020. "AI and Jobs: Evidence from Online Vacancies," NBER Working Papers 28257, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Consoli, Davide & Marin, Giovanni & Rentocchini, Francesco & Vona, Francesco, 2023. "Routinization, within-occupation task changes and long-run employment dynamics," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(1).
    16. Enghin Atalay & Sebastian Sotelo & Daniel Tannenbaum, 2024. "The Geography of Job Tasks," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 42(4), pages 979-1008.
    17. Ludger Woessmann, 2024. "Skills and Earnings: A Multidimensional Perspective on Human Capital," CESifo Working Paper Series 11428, CESifo.
    18. Koomen, Miriam & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2022. "Occupational Tasks and Wage Inequality in Germany: A Decomposition Analysis," IZA Discussion Papers 15702, IZA Network @ LISER.
    19. Lyu, Wenjing & Liu, Jin, 2021. "Artificial Intelligence and emerging digital technologies in the energy sector," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 303(C).
    20. Ziqiao Ao & Gergely Horvath & Chunyuan Sheng & Yifan Song & Yutong Sun, 2022. "Skill requirements in job advertisements: A comparison of skill-categorization methods based on explanatory power in wage regressions," Papers 2207.12834, arXiv.org.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:osf:socarx:bcyk6_v1. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: OSF (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://arabixiv.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.