Browsing by Subject "Skills"

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    Skills over the Life Cycle: Evidence from the United States and the Philippines
    (2016-08) Chaparro, Juan
    The dynamic of skill formation is critical to understand fundamental labor market outcomes. Skills and occupational choices are profoundly related. A fundamental idea throughout this dissertation is that it possible to infer information about skills from occupational choices. Furthermore, such inferred information can be used to study the socio-economic causes and consequences of skill formation. Chapter 2 explores the skill content of occupational choices in the United States. The goal of the chapter is to measure the wage return to math and language skills, taking into account the self-selection process of occupational choice. Occupations must be treated as endogenous variables in any wage equation. I instrument the importance of math for a worker's occupation in her thirties and forties with the importance of math for the worker's preferred occupation back in her early twenties. A similar instrumental variable is proposed for language skills. This empirical strategy is possible after the combination of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Youth, 1979 Cohort (NLSY79) and the Occupational Information Network (O*Net). The Occupational Information Network reports key characteristics for more than 800 occupational categories, relevant for the United States, using more than 400 variables. In addition, O*Net data are publicly available, but there is no equivalent data source for developing countries. Chapter 3 proposes a cost-effective methodology to collect information on a limited subset of O*Net variables. I implemented the methodology in the Philippines by hiring the professional services of ten industrial psychologists. I combine these data with information from the Cebu Longitudinal Health and Nutrition Survey (CLHNS) to study gender differences in occupational aspirations, occupational choices and returns to skills. The last chapter explores the early stages of skills formation. It proposes an economic model to understand the effects of the Infant Health and Development Program (IHDP), an intervention done in the United States during the mid 80s which had the purpose of promoting the physical, social and mental development of premature infants. The chapter analyses the consequences of access to free and high-quality childcare services on time allocation and other inputs of the technology of early skill formation.
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    A systems approach to identify skill needs for agrifood nanotechnology: a mixed methods study
    (2013-05) Yawson, Robert Mayfield
    The purpose of this study was to identify skill needs for the emerging agrifood nanotechnology sector and to determine how agricultural education can contribute to human resource and workforce development for this sector. As nanotechnology continues to advance in food and agriculture, there is the need for pragmatic decisions as to how to prepare the workforce. This mixed methods study incorporated disparate fields of systems and complexity theories; nanoscience and nanotechnology; science policy; agricultural education; human resource development and workforce education. The study followed a four-step process involving different methods and approaches. The first phase involved a comprehensive systematic evidence review (SER) and analysis of the literature. This phase of the study also helped to identify key experts and formulate questions for the in-depth and semi-structured interviews and also quantitative survey instruments. A comprehensive stakeholder analysis was done using primary data obtained from experts.The second phase of the study used multi-criteria approaches for value elicitation (which included qualitative and quantitative data) from key stakeholders and experts to identify current and future skill needs in the agrifood nanotechnology sector. The third phase of the study included quantitative analysis, Qualitative Systems Analysis (QSA) and Strategic Flexibility Analysis (SFA) of evidence from the literature review and the multi-criteria value elicitation of experts and stakeholders. The final phase of the study created a generic systems model from the quantitative analysis, QSA and SFA to describe holistically the current and future skill needs for agrifood nanotechnology workers as well as how educational practice and policy can meet these needs. The main conclusions from this study are that: (1) future shortages and skills gaps in agrifood nanotechnology are expected to increase but at the same time there is still quite a lot of uncertainty about future developments and impacts of nanotechnology in the agrifood sector to accurately determine future demand and supply of agrifood nanoskilled workforce. (2) Extra demands in high qualified workers with a background in sciences and engineering (PhD, MSc) will be needed. (3) STEM education at the K-12 levels is even more important than ever and that K-12 nanotechnology programs should be a seamless part of the overall STEM initiative. And most importantly STEM education should not be devoid of employability skills. (4) In addition to various types of technical skills that come with advances in any technology, and thus nanotechnology, employability skills and competencies such as problem solving and ability to work in an interdisciplinary context are considered very important.