The Influence of Non-Cognitive Skills on Wages within and between Firms : Evidence from Bangladesh's Formal Sector

Many employers and employees believe that non-cognitive skills are an important contributor to labor market success. This study has assessed the empirical evidence for such a claim in the case of Bangladesh by evaluating unique employer-employee ma...

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Main Authors: Nomura, Shinsaku, Adhikari, Samik
Format: Working Paper
Language:English
en_US
Published: World Bank, Washington, DC 2017
Subjects:
Online Access:http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/919881493918760759/The-influence-of-non-cognitive-skills-on-wages-within-and-between-firms-evidence-from-Bangladeshs-formal-sector
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26731
id okr-10986-26731
recordtype oai_dc
spelling okr-10986-267312021-06-08T14:42:46Z The Influence of Non-Cognitive Skills on Wages within and between Firms : Evidence from Bangladesh's Formal Sector Nomura, Shinsaku Adhikari, Samik PERSONALITY TRAITS WAGES OCCUPATONS FIRM-FIXED EFFECTS RASCH MODEL LABOR MARKET Many employers and employees believe that non-cognitive skills are an important contributor to labor market success. This study has assessed the empirical evidence for such a claim in the case of Bangladesh by evaluating unique employer-employee matched labor market data. The analysis is based on data collected from 6,981 workers in 500 formal sector firms in Bangladesh's five largest formal economic sectors. Using ordinary least squares and firm fixed-effect models, the study assesses correlations between wages and the so-called "big five" personality traits, and augments the analysis with the latent personality scores captured by the Rasch model. Comparing the ordinary least squares and fixed-effect models reveals statistically significant correlations between personality traits and wages, within and across firms. The results appear to indicate that non-cognitive skills are correlated with a worker's likelihood of achieving success in the labor market. Although many of the findings are consistent with the literature, the analysis reveals specific patterns that appear to be unique to Bangladesh, including a positive correlation between “emotional stability” and wages and a negative correlation between "grit" and wages, especially among manufacturing workers. Differences across firms could indicate that firms that offer higher wages may tend to attract workers with distinct types of non-cognitive skills, whereas differences within firms may indicate that variations in non-cognitive skills are associated with disparities in firm-level wage structures. Correlations between wages and personality traits are more prominent among large firms than among small or medium-sized firms. 2017-05-23T22:20:55Z 2017-05-23T22:20:55Z 2017-05 Working Paper http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/919881493918760759/The-influence-of-non-cognitive-skills-on-wages-within-and-between-firms-evidence-from-Bangladeshs-formal-sector http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26731 English en_US Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8053 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 South Asia Bangladesh
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 PERSONALITY TRAITS
WAGES
OCCUPATONS
FIRM-FIXED EFFECTS
RASCH MODEL
LABOR MARKET
spellingShingle PERSONALITY TRAITS
WAGES
OCCUPATONS
FIRM-FIXED EFFECTS
RASCH MODEL
LABOR MARKET
Nomura, Shinsaku
Adhikari, Samik
The Influence of Non-Cognitive Skills on Wages within and between Firms : Evidence from Bangladesh's Formal Sector
geographic_facet South Asia
Bangladesh
relation Policy Research Working Paper;No. 8053
description Many employers and employees believe that non-cognitive skills are an important contributor to labor market success. This study has assessed the empirical evidence for such a claim in the case of Bangladesh by evaluating unique employer-employee matched labor market data. The analysis is based on data collected from 6,981 workers in 500 formal sector firms in Bangladesh's five largest formal economic sectors. Using ordinary least squares and firm fixed-effect models, the study assesses correlations between wages and the so-called "big five" personality traits, and augments the analysis with the latent personality scores captured by the Rasch model. Comparing the ordinary least squares and fixed-effect models reveals statistically significant correlations between personality traits and wages, within and across firms. The results appear to indicate that non-cognitive skills are correlated with a worker's likelihood of achieving success in the labor market. Although many of the findings are consistent with the literature, the analysis reveals specific patterns that appear to be unique to Bangladesh, including a positive correlation between “emotional stability” and wages and a negative correlation between "grit" and wages, especially among manufacturing workers. Differences across firms could indicate that firms that offer higher wages may tend to attract workers with distinct types of non-cognitive skills, whereas differences within firms may indicate that variations in non-cognitive skills are associated with disparities in firm-level wage structures. Correlations between wages and personality traits are more prominent among large firms than among small or medium-sized firms.
format Working Paper
author Nomura, Shinsaku
Adhikari, Samik
author_facet Nomura, Shinsaku
Adhikari, Samik
author_sort Nomura, Shinsaku
title The Influence of Non-Cognitive Skills on Wages within and between Firms : Evidence from Bangladesh's Formal Sector
title_short The Influence of Non-Cognitive Skills on Wages within and between Firms : Evidence from Bangladesh's Formal Sector
title_full The Influence of Non-Cognitive Skills on Wages within and between Firms : Evidence from Bangladesh's Formal Sector
title_fullStr The Influence of Non-Cognitive Skills on Wages within and between Firms : Evidence from Bangladesh's Formal Sector
title_full_unstemmed The Influence of Non-Cognitive Skills on Wages within and between Firms : Evidence from Bangladesh's Formal Sector
title_sort influence of non-cognitive skills on wages within and between firms : evidence from bangladesh's formal sector
publisher World Bank, Washington, DC
publishDate 2017
url http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/919881493918760759/The-influence-of-non-cognitive-skills-on-wages-within-and-between-firms-evidence-from-Bangladeshs-formal-sector
http://hdl.handle.net/10986/26731
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