Gender Differences in Returns to Skills: Evidence from Matched Vacancy-Employer-Employee Data

Abstract

Analyses of job vacancy data are typically constrained by the fact that information on the hired worker(s) is hidden. To overcome this issue, I develop a pseudo-individual match between Danish job vacancy data and register data. With data on the hired worker(s) for each online job vacancy, I can test how returns to task-specific skills depend on the gender of the worker. While controlling for firm*occupation fixed effects, I find that women face significantly lower returns to cognitive, character, customer service, financial, and computer skills compared to men. The dual requirement of social and cognitive skills is not associated with higher wages at the individual level, but only after aggregating the data to teams of workers.