Deciphering Prometheus: Temporal Change in the Skill Level of Work

Abstract

JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.Major hypotheses about temporal change in the skill levels of work correspond to notions of upgrading, downgrading, and little net change. This paper identifies reasons why research has been equivocal on the larger question. Research designs yield differing conclusions: aggregate studies suggest little net change in recent years; case studies portray more volatile upgrading and downgrading within subsectors. A comprehensive answer to the question of skill transformation will require more systematic assessment of compositional and work content shifts, more complete sampling of the temporal and spatial domain, and better concepts and measures for skill. An improved approach includes direct measurement of two primary dimensions of skill, substantive complexity and autonomy-control. A review of existing aggregate studies illustrates the methodological problems and suggests future directions and hypotheses.

The skills and autonomy of female part-time work in Britain and Sweden

“…We distinguish two types of learning: pre-job entry learning (the duration of general education and training required for the job) and initial on-the-job learning. These are operationalised in broadly similar ways in the In addition to job skills referring to the 'substantive complexity' of job tasks, Spenner (1983Spenner ( , 1990) also recognizes skills as conceptualized by 'autonomy-control' or 'task discretion' -the ability to exercise control and initiative over the way the job task is done. The response scale ranges from: (0) 'I have no influence', to (10) 'I have complete control'.…”

“…Finally, in an important part of the sociological literature on work, task discretion, or autonomy, has been regarded as a key component of skill (Spenner, 1983(Spenner, , 1990. As can be seen in the final row of Table 3, in Britain male and female full-timers had higher task discretion scores than female part-timers overall.…”

Uma classificação socioeconômica para o Brasil

“…A dimensão de qualificação/perícia, no entendimento firmado aqui, foi considerada antes um bem socialmente definido e um componente da estrutura e da organização do trabalho. Realça-se assim o entendimento de que o seu poder causal depende tanto do contexto ocupacional e organizacional como das estruturas de oportunidade geradas no mercado de trabalho (Sørensen e Kalleberg, 1981;Spenner, 1983). Tal passo teórico permite evitar a noção de "capital humano", no sentido de atributo produtivo individual, ou seja, um recurso produtivo indissociável da pessoa e transportável de um emprego para outro.…”

IT Capital, Job Content and Educational Attainment

“…In reality, some blue-collar jobs may for example require more skills than many white-collar jobs. Further, these skill classifications fail to capture the multidimensional nature of skills as set out by Spenner (1983).…”

“…In addition, these studies do not distinguish between the skills that people bring to jobs in the sense of individual possessions like knowledge, abilities or capacities and skills that jobs require, that is, skills that are required to perform certain tasks (Spenner, 1983(Spenner, , 1990). This distinction is, however, important since the possession of certain skills cannot be equated with their use.…”