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The Growing Importance of Cognitive Skills in Wage Determination

Year: 1995

Type: article

Abstract: Using data from two longitudinal surveys of American high school seniors, we show that basic cognitive skills had a larger impact on wages for 24-year-old men and women in 1986 than in 1978. For women, the increase in the return to cognitive skills between 1978 and 1986 accounts for all of the increase in the wage premium associated with post-secondary education. We also show that high school seniors' mastery of basic cognitive skills had a much smaller impact on wages two years after graduation than on wages six years after graduation.

Source: The Review of Economics and Statistics

DOI: 10.3386/w5076

Authors: Richard J. Murnane, John B. Willett, Frank Levy

Language: English

Topic: Labor market dynamics and wage inequality

Subfield: Economics and Econometrics

Field: Economics, Econometrics and Finance

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Decent work and economic growth, Quality education, Reduced inequalities

Open Access status: green

OpenAlex ID: W2892065398

FWCI: 60.3

Cites: 3

Cited by: 1,165

Related to: 10