Data for: Returns to skills around the world: Evidence from PIAAC

Abstract of associated article: Existing estimates of the labor-market returns to human capital give a distorted picture of the role of skills across different economies. International comparisons of earnings analyses rely almost exclusively on school attainment measures of human capital, and evidence incorporating direct measures of cognitive skills is mostly restricted to early-career workers in the United States. Analysis of the new PIAAC survey of adult skills over the full lifecycle in 23 countries shows that the focus on early-career earnings leads to underestimating the lifetime returns to skills by about one quarter. On average, a one-standard-deviation increase in numeracy skills is associated with an 18 percent wage increase among prime-age workers. But this masks considerable heterogeneity across countries. Eight countries, including all Nordic countries, have returns between 12 and 15 percent, while six are above 21 percent with the largest return being 28 percent in the United States. Estimates are remarkably robust to different earnings and skill measures, additional controls, and various subgroups. Instrumental-variable models that use skill variation stemming from school attainment, parental education, or compulsory-schooling laws provide even higher estimates. Intriguingly, returns to skills are systematically lower in countries with higher union density, stricter employment protection, and larger public-sector shares.

关联论文摘要：现有关于人力资本的劳动力市场回报估算，对不同经济体中技能的作用呈现出失真的认知。国际间收入比较分析几乎完全依赖以受教育程度衡量的人力资本指标，而纳入直接认知技能测度的相关证据，大多仅局限于美国的早期职业生涯劳动者。针对覆盖23个国家、涵盖成年人全生命周期的国际成人能力评估调查（Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies，PIAAC）最新数据开展的分析显示，聚焦早期职业生涯收入的研究会低估约四分之一的技能终身回报。平均而言，青壮年劳动者的算术技能每提升1个标准差，其工资水平将上涨18%。但这一整体平均水平掩盖了各国间的显著异质性：包括所有北欧国家在内的8个国家，技能回报率介于12%至15%之间；另有6个国家的回报率超过21%，其中美国以28%位居最高。该估算结果对不同的收入与技能测度方式、额外控制变量以及各类子样本分析均表现出极强的稳健性。采用源自受教育程度、父母受教育水平或义务教育法的技能差异作为工具变量的模型，得到了更高的技能回报估算值。值得注意的是，在工会密度更高、就业保护更严格以及公共部门占比更大的国家，技能回报率呈现系统性偏低的特征。