Multidimensional Skills on LinkedIn Profiles: Measuring Human Capital and the Gender Skill Gap

David Dorn, Florian Schoner, Moritz Seebacher, Lisa Simon and Ludger Woessmann
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David Dorn: University of Zurich
Florian Schoner: ifo Institute, University of Munich
Moritz Seebacher: ifo Institute, University of Munich
Lisa Simon: Revelio Labs
Ludger Woessmann: University of Munich, ifo Institute; Hoover Institution, Stanford University

CAGE Online Working Paper Series from Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE)

Abstract: We measure human capital using the self-reported skill sets of nearly 9 million U.S. college graduates from professional profiles on LinkedIn. We aggregate skill strings into 48 clusters of general, occupation-specific, and managerial skills. Multidimensional skills can account for several important labor-market patterns. First, the number and composition of skills are systematically related to measures of human-capital investment such as education and work experience. The number of skills increases with experience, and the average age-skill profile closely resembles the well-established concave age-earnings profile. Second, workers who report more skills, especially specific and managerial ones, hold higher-paid jobs. Skill differences account for more earnings variation than detailed measures of education and experience. Third, we document a sizable gender gap in skills. While women and men report nearly equal numbers of skills shortly after college graduation, women’s skill count increases more slowly with age subsequently. A simple quantitative exercise shows that women’s slower skill accumulation can be fully accounted for by reduced work hours associated with motherhood. The resulting gender differences in skills rationalize a substantial proportion of the gender gap in job-based earnings.

Keywords: skills; human capital; gender; education; experience; social media; online professional network; labor market; tasks; earnings JEL Classification: I26; J16; J24; J31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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