Policy Papers
Skills-Based Hiring
Employers are resetting degree requirements in a wide range of roles, dropping the requirement for a bachelor’s degree in many middle-skill and even some higher-skill roles. This reverses a trend toward degree inflation in job postings going back to the Great Recession. And while the Covid-19 pandemic accelerated this process, this reset began before the crisis and is likely to continue after it. By analyzing over 51 million job postings, this report reveals the prevalence of this degree reset and explores the potential for skills-based-hiring in the US.
Policy Publications:
Skills-Based Hiring is on the Rise (with Joseph Fuller and Matt Sigelman), Harvard Business Review (online). Download
The Emerging Degree Reset (with Joseph Fuller, Julia Nitschke, Layla O'Kane, Matt Sigelman, and Bledi Taska), The Burning Glass Institute. Download
Media Coverage: among others Forbes 1, Forbes 2 The Wall Street Journal 1, The Wall Street Journal 2, New York Times 1, The New York Times 2, Washington Post, CNBC, Business Insider, Inc., Vox, Yahoo! Money
Working from Home
We analyze the prevalence of working from home (WFH) in Germany using more than 35 million online job advertisements from 2014 to 2021. While a WFH option was rare in job ads before the crisis, the Covid-19 shock led to an unprecedented WfH boom. At the same time, regional, occupational, and sectoral inequalities in access to WFH have decreased during the pandemic. We also document a higher demand for digital skills, teamwork, and adaptability in job ads with a WFH option. We conclude with an outlook for the future of WFH.
Policy Publications:
Wird uns das Homeoffice erhalten bleiben? Ein Blick in 35 Millionen Stellenanzeigen (with Jean-Victor Alipour and Layla O'Kane) ifo Schnelldienst, 2021, 74, Nr. 09, 46-52. Download
Is Working From Home Here to Stay? A Look at 35 Million Job Ads (with Jean-Victor Alipour and Layla O'Kane), CESifo Forum. 2021, 22 (6), 44-46. Download
Alipour J.V., Langer. C, and O'Kane L. (2022). Zur Zukunft des Homeoffice. In B. Wawrzyniak & M. Herter (ed.), Neue Dimensionen in Data Science (p. 227-242). Wichmann Fachmedien Berlin - Offenbach.
Media Coverage: among others Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Süddeutsche Zeitung, N-TV, Wirtschaftswoche
Skills Gaps in the European Union
In this article, we address two questions: First, how prevalent are skills gaps in Europe? Second, what are the drivers of these skills gaps and how can workers better prepare for employers' skill demand?
Drawing on job ad data and survey data for 17 European countries, we create novel measures of skills gaps. We document, that manual workers face skill shortages, while cognitive workers exhibit skill surpluses. We further find that this Europe-wide pattern is strikingly consistent across all occupations and skill domains.
Policy Publication:
Skills Mismatch, Automation, and Training: Evidence from 17 European Countries Using Survey Data and Online Job Ads (with Yuchen Guo, Fabio Mercorio, and Francesco Trentini), EconPol Forum 23 (5), 11-15. Download
Seminars and Public Speaking
Stanford Digital Economy Lab (S-DEL) - Seminar Series
The S-DEL seminar series brings together scholars and the public to discuss the future of work and the digital economy. I shared my research about the German apprenticeship system, “The Value of Skills: New Evidence from Apprenticeship Plans”, on September 26th in an invited seminar.
Panel ifo institute "Big Data in Economics Through Collaborating with Firms: How to Make it Work?"
Collaborating with firms in economic research provides tremendous opportunities for analyzing research questions and contributing to policy advice. On September 12th 2022, I got the opportunity to talk about big data in economics and my collaboration with the labor market analytics firm Lightcast at the Verein fuer Socialpolitik annual meeting in Basel, Switzerland, together with Clemens Fuest, Theresa Kuchler, and Carla Krolage.