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Soft Skills in the Youth Labor Market

Author

Listed:
  • Sara B. Heller
  • Judd B. Kessler

Abstract

This paper provides new descriptive evidence about which soft skills employers value in young, entry-level workers. We ran employer surveys as part of an experiment to generate letters of recommendation for New York City's Summer Youth Employment Program participants. Supervisors rated over 9,200 of their summer employees on overall quality and 10 separate soft skills. Better ratings correspond to better outside employment and earnings. We find that communication skills and dependability most impress employers. Young women's advantage in soft skills explains their entire advantage in overall ratings, as well as 14 percent of their advantage in outside earnings.

Suggested Citation

  • Sara B. Heller & Judd B. Kessler, 2022. "Soft Skills in the Youth Labor Market," AEA Papers and Proceedings, American Economic Association, vol. 112, pages 121-125, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:apandp:v:112:y:2022:p:121-25
    DOI: 10.1257/pandp.20221034
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    File URL: https://doi.org/10.3886/E168601V1
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Valencia,Christian & Janzen,Sarah Ann & Ghorpade,Yashodhan & Abdur Rahman,Amanina Binti, 2024. "Soft Skills, Competition, and Hiring Discrimination," Policy Research Working Paper Series 10755, The World Bank.
    2. Christina Langer & Simon Wiederhold, 2023. "The Value of Early-Career Skills," CESifo Working Paper Series 10288, CESifo.
    3. Abel, Martin & Burger, Rulof, 2023. "Unpacking Name-Based Race Discrimination," IZA Discussion Papers 16254, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • H75 - Public Economics - - State and Local Government; Intergovernmental Relations - - - State and Local Government: Health, Education, and Welfare
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials

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