Abstract

This is an accepted article with a DOI pre-assigned that is not yet published.

Using an international survey that directly assesses the cognitive skills of participants, the author studies the effect of skills on employment in 32 countries. On average, a 1 standard deviation increase in numeracy is associated with an 8.4 percentage point increase in the probability of being employed, reducing the probability of being out of the labour force and unemployed by 6.4 and 2.1 percentage points, respectively. After controlling for numeracy, the estimated employment effect of years in education falls by one third, from 2.7 to 1.8 percentage points. Notably, the employment effect of skills is more pronounced in countries with higher unemployment.

Keywords: PIAAC, labour force status, cognitive skills, employment, Survey of Adult Skills, international comparisons, education

Rights: © The author 2020 Journal compilation © International Labour Organization 2020