Most studies on skill transferability focus on the return to capabilities developed in the initial job and disregard the different characteristics of the origin and the destination industries. In contrast, this article assesses the borders of skill transferability by comparing the return to skills for firm stayers, firm changers in the same industry, and firm changers to other industries. Based on a sample of Portuguese employees in retail banking, our results confirm significant inter-firm and inter-industry skill transferability. Difference-in-differences estimates with propensity score matching show that firm switchers benefit from a wage premium compared to firm stayers. However, the wage premium drops sharply when movers leave the banking sector."> Most studies on skill transferability focus on the return to capabilities developed in the initial job and disregard the different characteristics of the origin and the destination industries. In contrast, this article assesses the borders of skill transferability by comparing the return to skills for firm stayers, firm changers in the same industry, and firm changers to other industries. Based on a sample of Portuguese employees in retail banking, our results confirm significant inter-firm and inter-industry skill transferability. Difference-in-differences estimates with propensity score matching show that firm switchers benefit from a wage premium compared to firm stayers. However, the wage premium drops sharply when movers leave the banking sector."> Most studies on skill transferability focus on the return to capabilities developed in the initial job and disregard the different charact">
[go: up one dir, main page]
More Web Proxy on the site http://driver.im/
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/scotjp/v62y2015i4p378-399.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Value of Transferable Skills

Author

Listed:
  • Francesca Sgobbi
  • Fátima Suleman
Abstract
type="main" xml:id="sjpe12079-abs-0001"> Most studies on skill transferability focus on the return to capabilities developed in the initial job and disregard the different characteristics of the origin and the destination industries. In contrast, this article assesses the borders of skill transferability by comparing the return to skills for firm stayers, firm changers in the same industry, and firm changers to other industries. Based on a sample of Portuguese employees in retail banking, our results confirm significant inter-firm and inter-industry skill transferability. Difference-in-differences estimates with propensity score matching show that firm switchers benefit from a wage premium compared to firm stayers. However, the wage premium drops sharply when movers leave the banking sector.

Suggested Citation

  • Francesca Sgobbi & Fátima Suleman, 2015. "The Value of Transferable Skills," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 62(4), pages 378-399, September.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:scotjp:v:62:y:2015:i:4:p:378-399
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/sjpe.2015.62.issue-4
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Gueorgui Kambourov & Iourii Manovskii, 2009. "Occupational Specificity Of Human Capital," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 50(1), pages 63-115, February.
    2. Bas Klaauw & António Dias da Silva, 2011. "Wage dynamics and promotions inside and between firms," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(4), pages 1513-1548, October.
    3. Simonetta Longhi & Mark Taylor, 2013. "Occupational Change and Mobility Among Employed and Unemployed Job Seekers," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 60(1), pages 71-100, February.
    4. A. R. Cardoso, 2000. "Wage differentials across firms: an application of multilevel modelling," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(4), pages 343-354.
    5. Michele Battisti, 2016. "Individual Wage Growth: The Role of Industry Experience," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 55(1), pages 40-70, January.
    6. Joseph G. Altonji & Anthony A. Smith Jr. & Ivan Vidangos, 2013. "Modeling Earnings Dynamics," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 81(4), pages 1395-1454, July.
    7. James J. Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Petra E. Todd, 1997. "Matching As An Econometric Evaluation Estimator: Evidence from Evaluating a Job Training Programme," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 64(4), pages 605-654.
    8. Weinberg, Bruce A, 2001. "Long-Term Wage Fluctuations with Industry-Specific Human Capital," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 19(1), pages 231-264, January.
    9. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias, 2000. "Evaluation methods for non-experimental data," Fiscal Studies, Institute for Fiscal Studies, vol. 21(4), pages 427-468, January.
    10. Alberto Abadie, 2005. "Semiparametric Difference-in-Differences Estimators," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 72(1), pages 1-19.
    11. Annette Bergemann & Bernd Fitzenberger & Stefan Speckesser, 2009. "Evaluating the dynamic employment effects of training programs in East Germany using conditional difference-in-differences," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(5), pages 797-823.
    12. Audrey Light & Kathleen McGarry, 1998. "Job Change Patterns And The Wages Of Young Men," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 80(2), pages 276-286, May.
    13. Franz Buscha & Arnaud Maurel & Lionel Page & Stefan Speckesser, 2007. "The Effect of High School Employment on Educational Attainment : A Conditional Difference-in-Differences Approach," Working Papers 2007-40, Center for Research in Economics and Statistics.
    14. Richard Blundell & Monica Costa Dias & Costas Meghir & John Van Reenen, 2004. "Evaluating the Employment Impact of a Mandatory Job Search Program," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 2(4), pages 569-606, June.
    15. Torres, Sónia & Portugal, Pedro & Addison, John T. & Guimaraes, Paulo, 2013. "The Sources of Wage Variation: A Three-Way High-Dimensional Fixed Effects Regression Model," IZA Discussion Papers 7276, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Addison, John T & Portugal, Pedro, 1989. "Job Displacement, Relative Wage Changes, and Duration of Unemployment," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 7(3), pages 281-302, July.
    17. Ana Rute Cardoso & Rudolf Winter-Ebmer, 2010. "Female-Led Firms and Gender Wage Policies," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 64(1), pages 143-163, October.
    18. Sullivan, Paul, 2010. "Empirical evidence on occupation and industry specific human capital," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(3), pages 567-580, June.
    19. Andrew Seltzer, 2010. "Salaries and promotion opportunities in the English banking industry, 1890-1936," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 52(5), pages 737-759.
    20. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    21. Ana Rute Cardoso & Miguel Portela, 2009. "Micro Foundations for Wage Flexibility: Wage Insurance at the Firm Level," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 111(1), pages 29-50, March.
    22. Neal, Derek, 1995. "Industry-Specific Human Capital: Evidence from Displaced Workers," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 13(4), pages 653-677, October.
    23. Maxim Poletaev & Chris Robinson, 2008. "Human Capital Specificity: Evidence from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and Displaced Worker Surveys, 1984-2000," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 26(3), pages 387-420, July.
    24. Eriksson, Tor & Werwatz, Axel, 2005. "The Prevalence of Internal Labour Markets - New Evidence from Panel Data," Working Papers 04-19, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics.
    25. Dorsett, Richard, 2006. "The new deal for young people: effect on the labour market status of young men," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(3), pages 405-422, June.
    26. Larry W. Hunter & Annette Bernhardt & Katherine L. Hughes & Eva Skuratowicz, 2001. "It's Not Just the ATMs: Technology, Firm Strategies, Jobs, and Earnings in Retail Banking," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 54(2), pages 402-424, January.
    27. Marco Caliendo & Sabine Kopeinig, 2008. "Some Practical Guidance For The Implementation Of Propensity Score Matching," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 22(1), pages 31-72, February.
    28. Topel, Robert H, 1991. "Specific Capital, Mobility, and Wages: Wages Rise with Job Seniority," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 99(1), pages 145-176, February.
    29. Edward P. Lazear, 2009. "Firm-Specific Human Capital: A Skill-Weights Approach," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 117(5), pages 914-940, October.
    30. Paul M. Ong & Don Mar, 1992. "Post-Layoff Earnings among Semiconductor Workers," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 45(2), pages 366-379, January.
    31. Christina Gathmann & Uta Schönberg, 2010. "How General Is Human Capital? A Task-Based Approach," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 28(1), pages 1-49, January.
    32. Franz Buscha & Arnaud Maurel & Lionel Page & Stefan Speckesser, 2012. "The Effect of Employment while in High School on Educational Attainment: A Conditional Difference-in-Differences Approach," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 74(3), pages 380-396, June.
    33. Garcia Perez, Jose Ignacio & Rebollo Sanz, Yolanda, 2005. "Wage changes through job mobility in Europe: A multinomial endogenous switching approach," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 12(4), pages 531-555, August.
    34. Parent, Daniel, 2000. "Industry-Specific Capital and the Wage Profile: Evidence from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth and the Panel Study of Income Dynamics," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 18(2), pages 306-323, April.
    35. Alexandros Zangelidis, 2008. "Occupational And Industry Specificity Of Human Capital In The British Labour Market," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 55(4), pages 420-443, September.
    36. Lima, Francisco & Pereira, Pedro T., 2001. "Careers and Wage Growth within Large Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 336, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    37. Maria A. Davia, 2010. "Job Mobility And Wage Growth At The Beginning Of The Professional Career In Spain," Revista de Economia Aplicada, Universidad de Zaragoza, Departamento de Estructura Economica y Economia Publica, vol. 18(1), pages 5-34, Spring.
    38. Farber, Henry S., 1999. "Mobility and stability: The dynamics of job change in labor markets," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 37, pages 2439-2483, Elsevier.
    39. Pack, Howard & Paxson, Christina, 1999. "Inter-industry labor mobility in Taiwan, China," Policy Research Working Paper Series 2154, The World Bank.
    40. Laura Larsson, 2003. "Evaluation of Swedish Youth Labor Market Programs," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 38(4).
    41. Michael Spence, 1973. "Job Market Signaling," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 87(3), pages 355-374.
    42. Michael Podgursky & Paul Swaim, 1987. "Job Displacement and Earnings Loss: Evidence from the Displaced Worker Survey," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 41(1), pages 17-29, October.
    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. Sérgio Lagoa & Fátima Suleman, 2016. "Industry- and occupation-specific human capital: evidence from displaced workers," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 37(1), pages 44-68, April.
    2. Carl Sanders & Christopher Taber, 2012. "Life-Cycle Wage Growth and Heterogeneous Human Capital," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 399-425, July.
    3. Kritkorn Nawakitphaitoon, 2014. "Occupational Human Capital and Wages: The Role of Skills Transferability Across Occupations," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 35(1), pages 63-87, March.
    4. Francesca Sgobbi, 2013. "The Borders of Inter-Firm Mobility for ICT Employees in Italy," International Journal of Human Capital and Information Technology Professionals (IJHCITP), IGI Global, vol. 4(1), pages 34-45, January.
    5. Garcia-Louzao, Jose & Hospido, Laura & Ruggieri, Alessandro, 2023. "Dual returns to experience," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    6. Neffke, Frank M.H. & Otto, Anne & Weyh, Antje, 2017. "Inter-industry labor flows," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 142(C), pages 275-292.
    7. Ayaka Nakamura, 2019. "The Effect of Employer Tenure on Wages in Japan," OSIPP Discussion Paper 19E007, Osaka School of International Public Policy, Osaka University.
    8. Ralph Stinebrickner & Todd Stinebrickner & Paul Sullivan, 2019. "Job Tasks, Time Allocation, and Wages," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 37(2), pages 399-433.
    9. By Barbara Mueller & Jürg Schweri, 2015. "How specific is apprenticeship training? Evidence from inter-firm and occupational mobility after graduation," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 67(4), pages 1057-1077.
    10. Eggenberger, Christian & Rinawi, Miriam & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2018. "Occupational specificity: A new measurement based on training curricula and its effect on labor market outcomes," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(C), pages 97-107.
    11. Elisabeth Bublitz, 2018. "Matching skills of individuals and firms along the career path," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 70(2), pages 509-537.
    12. Eggenberger, Christian & Janssen, Simon & Backes-Gellner, Uschi, 2022. "The value of specific skills under shock: High risks and high returns," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    13. 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.
    14. Matthias Kräkel, 2016. "Human Capital Investment and Work Incentives," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(3), pages 627-651, September.
    15. Georgios A. Panos & Konstantinos Pouliakas & Alexandros Zangelidis, 2014. "Multiple Job Holding, Skill Diversification, and Mobility," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 53(2), pages 223-272, April.
    16. Keongtae Kim & Sunil Mithas & Jonathan Whitaker & Prasanto K. Roy, 2014. "Research Note —Industry-Specific Human Capital and Wages: Evidence from the Business Process Outsourcing Industry," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 25(3), pages 618-638, September.
    17. Yamaguchi, Shintaro, 2010. "The effect of match quality and specific experience on career decisions and wage growth," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2), pages 407-423, April.
    18. Zsolt Csáfordi & László Lőrincz & Balázs Lengyel & Károly Miklós Kiss, 2020. "Productivity spillovers through labor flows: productivity gap, multinational experience and industry relatedness," The Journal of Technology Transfer, Springer, vol. 45(1), pages 86-121, February.
    19. Alexandros Zangelidis, 2008. "Occupational And Industry Specificity Of Human Capital In The British Labour Market," Scottish Journal of Political Economy, Scottish Economic Society, vol. 55(4), pages 420-443, September.
    20. Susumu Imai & Derek Stacey & Casey Warman, 2019. "From engineer to taxi driver? Language proficiency and the occupational skills of immigrants," Canadian Journal of Economics, Canadian Economics Association, vol. 52(3), pages 914-953, August.

    More about this item

    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:bla:scotjp:v:62:y:2015:i:4:p:378-399. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/sesssea.html .

    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.