The growth and valuation of computing and other generic skills

This paper describes a method for measuring job skills usingsurvey data on detailed work activities, and using these measuresexamines whether the utilisation of skills is growing, and howthey are valued in the labour market. We show that between 1997and 2001 there was a growth in Britain in the utilisation ofcomputing skills, literacy, numeracy, technical know-how, high-levelcommunication skills, planning skills, client communicationskills, horizontal communication skills, problem-solving, andchecking skills. Computer skills utilisation was growing thefastest, and the use of computers was becoming more sophisticated.We re-evaluate the issue of whether computers have affectedwages, taking into account existing critiques in the literature.We find that both computer skills and high-level communicationskills carry positive wage premia, as shown both in cross-sectionhedonic wage equations that control for many detailed activities,and through a within-cohorts change analysis.