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A New Approach to Building a Skills Taxonomy

Author

Listed:
  • Elizabeth Gallagher
  • India Kerle
  • Cath Sleeman
  • George Richardson

Abstract

This paper presents a new data-driven approach to building a UK skills taxonomy, improving upon the original approach developed in Djumalieva and Sleeman (2018). The new method improves on the original method as it does not rely on a predetermined list of skills, and can instead automatically detect previously unseen skills. This 'minimal judgement' approach is made possible by a classifier that automatically detects sentences within job adverts that are likely to contain skills. These 'skill sentences' are then grouped to define distinct skills, and a hierarchy is formed. The resulting taxonomy contains three levels and 6,685 separate skills. The taxonomy could be used as a base for developing the first UK-specific skills taxonomy, which domain experts would then refine and extend. It could also be used to spot regional skill clusters, and for rapid assessments of skill changes following shocks such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Gallagher & India Kerle & Cath Sleeman & George Richardson, 2022. "A New Approach to Building a Skills Taxonomy," Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE) Technical Reports ESCOE-TR-16, Economic Statistics Centre of Excellence (ESCoE).
    • Handle: RePEc:nsr:escoet:escoe-tr-16
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    big data; cluster analysis; job market; labour demand; machine learning; nlp; online job adverts; sentence embeddings; skills; skills taxonomy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C18 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General - - - Methodolical Issues: General
    • C38 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Multiple or Simultaneous Equation Models; Multiple Variables - - - Classification Methdos; Cluster Analysis; Principal Components; Factor Analysis
    • J23 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Labor Demand
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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