Is it better to invest in hard or soft skills?

Result code in IS VaVaI

<a href="https://www.isvavai.cz/riv?ss=detail&h=RIV%2F61989100%3A27510%2F16%3A86099290" target="_blank" >RIV/61989100:27510/16:86099290 - isvavai.cz</a>

Result on the web

<a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1035304616674613" target="_blank" >http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/1035304616674613</a>

DOI - Digital Object Identifier

<a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1035304616674613" target="_blank" >10.1177/1035304616674613</a>

Result language

angličtina

Original language name

Is it better to invest in hard or soft skills?

Original language description

Increasing awareness of the productive potential of soft skills has sparked a discussion of their systematic and purposeful development. However, education systems pay only limited attention to this topic in most countries and remain focused on the development of hard skills. Is this approach rational or inadequate? This article provides new evidence on different aspects of the wage returns to soft skills (as an approximation of their productivity), and thereby contributes significantly to the discussion of the role of educational institutions in their development. It provides evidence that soft skills are as productive as hard skills. Moreover, it suggests that the productivity of hard skills stems from their combination with soft skills. These conclusions do not correspond to the fact that the value of education is intermediated mainly by hard skills, resulting in unequal development of soft and hard skills in schools. While concluding that education systems should pay more attention to soft skills development, the analysis recognises that this attention should be differentiated according to employers&apos; needs, owing to substantial differences in the value of soft skills across economic sectors. It is also noteworthy that while significant gender differences in returns to hard skills were identified, wage returns to soft skills appear gender neutral. JEL Codes: J24, J31, J71

Czech name

—

Czech description

—

Type

J_imp - Article in a specialist periodical, which is included in the Web of Science database

CEP classification

—

OECD FORD branch

50202 - Applied Economics, Econometrics

Project

<a href="/en/project/GAP402%2F11%2F2464" target="_blank" >GAP402/11/2464: Measuring Wage Discrimination According to Gender</a><br>

Continuities

P - Projekt vyzkumu a vyvoje financovany z verejnych zdroju (s odkazem do CEP)

Publication year

2016

Confidentiality

S - Úplné a pravdivé údaje o projektu nepodléhají ochraně podle zvláštních právních předpisů

Name of the periodical

Economic and Labour Relations Review

ISSN

1035-3046

e-ISSN

—

Volume of the periodical

27

Issue of the periodical within the volume

4

Country of publishing house

GB - UNITED KINGDOM

Number of pages

18

Pages from-to

453-470

UT code for WoS article

000389908700004

EID of the result in the Scopus database

2-s2.0-85001944865