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posted by cmn32480 on Monday August 24 2015, @04:28AM   Printer-friendly
from the but-i-like-being-a-d-head dept.

The NBER (National Bureau of Economic Research) has published a new paper examining the increasing requirement for social skills in modern labor markets. Reinforcing some of the lessons of another recent story here on Soylent, the abstract is as follows:

The slow growth of high-paying jobs in the U.S. since 2000 and rapid advances in computer technology have sparked fears that human labor will eventually be rendered obsolete. Yet while computers perform cognitive tasks of rapidly increasing complexity, simple human interaction has proven difficult to automate. In this paper, I show that the labor market increasingly rewards social skills. Since 1980, jobs with high social skill requirements have experienced greater relative growth throughout the wage distribution. Moreover, employment and wage growth has been strongest in jobs that require high levels of both cognitive skill and social skill. To understand these patterns, I develop a model of team production where workers "trade tasks" to exploit their comparative advantage. In the model, social skills reduce coordination costs, allowing workers to specialize and trade more efficiently. The model generates predictions about sorting and the relative returns to skill across occupations, which I test and confirm using data from the NLSY79. The female advantage in social skills may have played some role in the narrowing of gender gaps in labor market outcomes since 1980.

A paywall-free version of the paper is available here.


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 5, Interesting) by VLM on Monday August 24 2015, @11:40AM

    by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 24 2015, @11:40AM (#226986)

    I show that the labor market increasingly rewards social skills. Since 1980, jobs with high social skill requirements have experienced greater relative growth throughout the wage distribution.

    Can't you read that as punishes non-social skill jobs? So the social skill jobs are the only "good jobs" left?

    A dude who tightens the same screw on an assembly line for 40 years requiring no social skills at all used to make good money, now those jobs are all automated or in China. Repeat tens of millions of times for non-social jobs that can be automated. The result will naturally be that social skill jobs will be the only jobs left, more or less. So obviously real estate agents, mortgage brokers, insurance agents, car salesmen will be "rewarded" if by rewarded you mean "the only folks not downsized and replaced by a robot or a Chinese".

    I donno if you can call that a reward, other than in the sense of the beatings will continue until morale improves.

    Another way to describe

    Moreover, employment and wage growth has been strongest in jobs that require high levels of both cognitive skill and social skill.

    is just plain old income inequality. The winners write the history so the folks with the dough want that coveted status of being smart and schmoozey so what a surprise, that is exactly how they self describe.... What I'm getting at is think of an antisocial behavior like a commissioned sales droid screwing over a customer, if they win in the end, thats going to be re-defined as heroic levels of social skills, not anti-social behavior. Everyone in prison got there thinking they were just gettin' along.

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Geezer on Monday August 24 2015, @01:27PM

    by Geezer (511) on Monday August 24 2015, @01:27PM (#227010)

    I think you're on to something here. I took away a similar gist, namely: bullshit is king, or at least the heir-apparent.

    Such has always been the case in bullshit-friendly fields like sales and the law, but now the same rule of bullshit is branching into every segment of the marketplace. Once bullshit becomes the prevailing norm for business and social relationships, social entropy will make bullshit the accepted "good" practice and honesty will indeed become antisocial or deviant behavior.

    Imagine a financial system where feel-good doublespeak replaces sound analysis and prudent advice. Oh, wait...

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by VLM on Monday August 24 2015, @03:34PM

      by VLM (445) Subscriber Badge on Monday August 24 2015, @03:34PM (#227060)

      the same rule of bullshit is branching into every segment of the marketplace

      True but also the marketplace is shutting down in non BS friendly areas.

      Working, say, in a foundry, being a BS artist doesn't really pay off. So two dudes, one in foundry one in the sales office, only 50% of jobs require social skills aka lying.

      Once the manufacturing job moves to Japan then Mexico then China you're left with two dudes, one unemployed/disability and one in the sales office, now 100% of jobs require social skills aka lying.

      Obviously if you permanently destroy non-BS jobs, the percentage of BS jobs will increase over time.

      • (Score: 2) by pnkwarhall on Monday August 24 2015, @09:08PM

        by pnkwarhall (4558) on Monday August 24 2015, @09:08PM (#227240)

        Obviously if you permanently destroy non-BS jobs, the percentage of BS jobs will increase over time.

        This is not obvious to the average citizen. I agree with you 100%, but look at all the political rhetoric about "creating jobs". Then there's the old adage that "It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends on his not understanding it.' I have been surprised to find that, for many people, what they do is not as important to them as what they get out of what they do (generally, although not exclusively, financial compensation).

        --
        Lift Yr Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @06:54PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @06:54PM (#227182)

    > So obviously real estate agents, mortgage brokers, insurance agents, car salesmen will be "rewarded"

    Its like you didn't even read the summary, just the title of the summary and forget TFA.

    This isn't about sales jobs. Its about teams. Its about coordination of resources to maximize effectiveness, and properly value specialists.

    • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @07:36PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @07:36PM (#227206)

      Its about teams. Its about coordination of resources to maximize effectiveness, and properly value specialists.

      Bullshitter says what?