Transitions in Work and Learning Implications for Assessment (1997) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
Pages 17-24
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 17... ...
The sampling process used here generated a stratified random sample of employers who are distributed across establishment size categories in roughly the same proportions as the overall labor force.l6 Because of this sampling property, the characteristics of a sample of newly filled jobs at these firms can be considered, which should fairly well represent the jobs that are now being filled by employers and which new job seekers will currently face in the labor market. Survey respondents were asked a variety of questions about all currently filled or vacant jobs at the firm as well as the last job that they filled and the last worker hired into this job, including the skills needed, recruitment and screening methods used, and demographic characteristics of hired workers.
|
From page 18... ...
These requirements vary with the educational requirements of the job and by occupation. Thus, jobs that require a college education generally require a higher degree of daily task performance and more experience or training than jobs that do not require college; among the latter, white-collar jobs require more than bluecollar and service jobs.
|
From page 19... ...
Of course, some questions remain about whether or not the requirements are hard and fast in other words, whether employers really do as they say. But no such questions even seem relevant for the task performance data, which report current employee activities, and the responses to questions on hiring requirements are largely confirmed by information, where it is available, on the characteristics of the workers actually hired for these jobs.20 Thus, these data cast considerable doubt on whether there are enough jobs available with very low skill requirements to absorb all potential workers with very low skills, especially if welfare recipients are soon required to seek work in large numbers (Holzer, 1996~.21 As argued above, the tasks represent some of the actual skills needed for job performance, while the credentials are signals of a candidate's potential ability to perform a job.
|
From page 20... ...
The data indicate that 42 percent of establishments report rising skill needs, with somewhat higher rates in the jobs requiring college and somewhat lower ones in blue-collar and service jobs. These data may well understate the extent that skill needs have increased in this period.23 23The data do not include establishments and firms that went out of business during this period or those that began operation very recently.
|
From page 21... ...
On the other hand, the need for social and verbal skills has risen the most for jobs requiring a college education. Do any of these skill needs and employer attitudes affect who actually gets hired, especially once obvious characteristics such as educational attainment are controlled for?
|
From page 22... ...
But given the gaps that have been documented between average black and white education and experience levels, test scores, and so forth, it seems likely that at least part of the observed results are based on real differences in average skills.25 25For educational attainment the tendency of a hired worker to not meet the stated requirement was actually higher among blacks and Hispanics than whites, especially at firms practicing affirmative action in hiring.
|
From page 23... ...
are (1) the frequency with which certain skills and personal characteristics are considered important by employers for job performance, (2)
|
From page 24... ...
On the one hand, educational requirements do exist on most jobs. For instance, 27The mean scores for personal qualities were 84 for service workers and 82 for blue-collar workers, compared with 79 and 68, respectively, on all basic skill categories.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.