Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
    • Supplementary Material
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
    • Request JHR at your library
  • Alerts
  • Free Issue
  • Special Issue
  • Other Publications
    • UWP

User menu

  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart

Search

  • Advanced search
Journal of Human Resources
  • Other Publications
    • UWP
  • Register
  • Subscribe
  • My alerts
  • Log in
  • My Cart
Journal of Human Resources

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
    • Supplementary Material
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Subscribers
    • Institutions
    • Advertisers
  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Editorial Board
  • Connect
    • Feedback
    • Help
    • Request JHR at your library
  • Alerts
  • Free Issue
  • Special Issue
  • Follow uwp on Twitter
  • Follow JHR on Bluesky
Research ArticleArticle

Pre-Market Skills, Occupational Choice, and Career Progression

Jamin D. Speer
Journal of Human Resources, January 2017, 52 (1) 187-246; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/jhr.52.1.0215-6940R
Jamin D. Speer
Jamin D. Speer is an assistant professor of economics at the University of Memphis.
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

This paper develops a new empirical framework for analyzing occupational choice and career progression. I merge the NLSYs with O*Net and find that pre-market skills (primarily ASVAB test scores) predict the task content of the workers’ occupations. These measures account for 71 percent of the gender gap in science and engineering occupations. Career trajectories are similar across workers, so that initial differences in occupation persist over time. I then quantify the effect of layoffs on career trajectory and find that a layoff erases one-fourth of a worker’s total career increase in task content but this effect only lasts two years.

  • Received February 2015.
  • Accepted July 2015.
View Full Text

This article requires a subscription to view the full text. If you have a subscription you may use the login form below to view the article. Access to this article can also be purchased.

Log in using your username and password

Forgot your user name or password?

Purchase access

You may purchase access to this article. This will require you to create an account if you don't already have one.
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Journal of Human Resources: 52 (1)
Journal of Human Resources
Vol. 52, Issue 1
1 Jan 2017
  • Table of Contents
  • Table of Contents (PDF)
  • Index by author
  • Back Matter (PDF)
  • Front Matter (PDF)
Print
Download PDF
Article Alerts
Sign In to Email Alerts with your Email Address
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Journal of Human Resources.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Pre-Market Skills, Occupational Choice, and Career Progression
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Journal of Human Resources
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Journal of Human Resources web site.
Citation Tools
Pre-Market Skills, Occupational Choice, and Career Progression
Jamin D. Speer
Journal of Human Resources Jan 2017, 52 (1) 187-246; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.52.1.0215-6940R

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Pre-Market Skills, Occupational Choice, and Career Progression
Jamin D. Speer
Journal of Human Resources Jan 2017, 52 (1) 187-246; DOI: 10.3368/jhr.52.1.0215-6940R
Twitter logo Facebook logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One
Bookmark this article

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • I. Introduction
    • II. A Model of Occupational Choice
    • III. Data
    • IV. Empirical Strategy
    • V. Results: Occupational Choice
    • VI. Results: Career Progression
    • VII. Conclusion
    • Acknowledgments
    • Appendix 1
    • Appendix 2
    • Footnotes
    • References
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Related Articles

  • No related articles found.
  • Google Scholar

Cited By...

  • Careers and Mismatch for College Graduates: College and Noncollege Jobs
  • Occupational Mobility, Occupation Distance, and Specific Human Capital
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • In-State College Enrollment and Later Life Location Decisions
  • The Journal of Human Resources Referees Volume 55
  • The Economic Burden of Crime
Show more Article

Similar Articles

UW Press logo

© 2025 Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System

Powered by HighWire