Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/267425 
Year of Publication: 
2022
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 15688
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper examines the role of lifelong learning in counteracting skill depreciation and obsolescence. We build on findings showing that different skill types have structurally different depreciation rates. We differentiate between occupations with more hard skills versus more soft skills. To do so, we draw on representative job advertisement data that contain machine-learning categorized skill requirements and cover the Swiss job market in great detail across occupations (from 1950–2019). We examine lifelong learning effects for "harder" versus "softer" occupations, thereby analyzing the role of training in counteracting skill depreciation in occupations that are differently affected by skill depreciation. Our results reveal novel patterns regarding the benefits from lifelong learning across occupations: In harder occupations, with large shares of fast-depreciating hard skills, the role of lifelong learning is primarily as a hedge against unemployment risks rather than a boost to wages. In contrast, in softer occupations, in which workers build on more value-stable soft skill foundations, the role of lifelong learning instead lies mostly in acting as a boost for upward career mobility and leads to larger wage gains.
Subjects: 
skill depreciation
lifelong learning
soft vs. hard occupations
hedging against unemployment
boosting wages
JEL: 
M53
J24
I2
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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