Are There Skills Payoffs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? : Empirical Evidence Using STEP Data
Most research on the economic payoffs of skills has used individuals' level of schooling attained -- typically years or level of education or training received—as a key proxy for skills. Such research has consistently found that individual ret...
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| Language: | English en_US |
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World Bank, Washington, DC
2016
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| Online Access: | http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/231391478194467051/Are-there-skills-payoffs-in-low-and-middle-income-countries-empirical-evidence-using-STEP-data http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25678 |
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okr-10986-256782021-06-08T14:42:46Z Are There Skills Payoffs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? : Empirical Evidence Using STEP Data Valerio, Alexandria Sanchez Puerta, Maria Laura Tognatta, Namrata Monroy-Taborda, Sebastian skills cognitive skills noncognitive skills labor market outcomes Most research on the economic payoffs of skills has used individuals' level of schooling attained -- typically years or level of education or training received—as a key proxy for skills. Such research has consistently found that individual returns to schooling are positive and that returns tend to be higher in low- and middle-income countries than in higher-income countries. However, years in school is only one proxy for skills -- are these returns still observed using other measures as proxies? This study uses data from the STEP Skills Measurement Survey to examine the extent to which there is an independent association between cognitive and noncognitive skills and earnings in low- and middle-income countries. The study uses measures of reading proficiency and complexity of on-the-job computer tasks to proxy cognitive skills, and personality and behavioral measures to proxy noncognitive skills. The results demonstrate that even when controlling for schooling and background factors, these skills pay off in the labor market. This is particularly the case for the measures of cognitive skills, while noncognitive skills show some significant, but small, effects on earnings. The findings also suggest that there is significant heterogeneity across countries in how skills are valued in the labor market. 2016-12-05T23:19:24Z 2016-12-05T23:19:24Z 2016-11 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/231391478194467051/Are-there-skills-payoffs-in-low-and-middle-income-countries-empirical-evidence-using-STEP-data http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25678 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7879 CC BY 3.0 IGO http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/igo/ World Bank World Bank, Washington, DC Publications & Research Publications & Research :: Policy Research Working Paper |
| repository_type |
Digital Repository |
| institution_category |
Foreign Institution |
| institution |
Digital Repositories |
| building |
World Bank Open Knowledge Repository |
| collection |
World Bank |
| language |
English en_US |
| topic |
skills cognitive skills noncognitive skills labor market outcomes |
| spellingShingle |
skills cognitive skills noncognitive skills labor market outcomes Valerio, Alexandria Sanchez Puerta, Maria Laura Tognatta, Namrata Monroy-Taborda, Sebastian Are There Skills Payoffs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? : Empirical Evidence Using STEP Data |
| relation |
Policy Research Working Paper;No. 7879 |
| description |
Most research on the economic payoffs of
skills has used individuals' level of schooling
attained -- typically years or level of education or
training received—as a key proxy for skills. Such research
has consistently found that individual returns to schooling
are positive and that returns tend to be higher in low- and
middle-income countries than in higher-income countries.
However, years in school is only one proxy for skills -- are
these returns still observed using other measures as
proxies? This study uses data from the STEP Skills
Measurement Survey to examine the extent to which there is
an independent association between cognitive and
noncognitive skills and earnings in low- and middle-income
countries. The study uses measures of reading proficiency
and complexity of on-the-job computer tasks to proxy
cognitive skills, and personality and behavioral measures to
proxy noncognitive skills. The results demonstrate that even
when controlling for schooling and background factors, these
skills pay off in the labor market. This is particularly the
case for the measures of cognitive skills, while
noncognitive skills show some significant, but small,
effects on earnings. The findings also suggest that there is
significant heterogeneity across countries in how skills are
valued in the labor market. |
| format |
Working Paper |
| author |
Valerio, Alexandria Sanchez Puerta, Maria Laura Tognatta, Namrata Monroy-Taborda, Sebastian |
| author_facet |
Valerio, Alexandria Sanchez Puerta, Maria Laura Tognatta, Namrata Monroy-Taborda, Sebastian |
| author_sort |
Valerio, Alexandria |
| title |
Are There Skills Payoffs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? : Empirical Evidence Using STEP Data |
| title_short |
Are There Skills Payoffs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? : Empirical Evidence Using STEP Data |
| title_full |
Are There Skills Payoffs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? : Empirical Evidence Using STEP Data |
| title_fullStr |
Are There Skills Payoffs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? : Empirical Evidence Using STEP Data |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Are There Skills Payoffs in Low- and Middle-Income Countries? : Empirical Evidence Using STEP Data |
| title_sort |
are there skills payoffs in low- and middle-income countries? : empirical evidence using step data |
| publisher |
World Bank, Washington, DC |
| publishDate |
2016 |
| url |
http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/231391478194467051/Are-there-skills-payoffs-in-low-and-middle-income-countries-empirical-evidence-using-STEP-data http://hdl.handle.net/10986/25678 |
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