Are Soft Skills Enough? Experimental Evidence on Skill Complementarity for College Graduates

Adam Osman and Jamin D. Speer

ILR Review, 2025, vol. 78, issue 4, 692-711

Abstract: The authors study how complementarities in skill may affect the returns to vocational training using a randomized controlled trial in Cairo, Egypt. Participants, who were college-educated, were given either a four-week training in soft skills (e.g., grooming, time management), technical skills (e.g., Microsoft programs, English language), or a mix of the two (half of each). Findings show large differences in outcomes between the three treatments. The technical and mixed treatments do best in the short term, raising first-job income by about 15%, relative to the soft skill treatment. In the longer term, the mixed-skill treatment significantly outperforms the other two treatments, giving participants 20–27% higher income. The high returns for this group may come from increased access to jobs that require speaking English, which may be at higher-quality employers. Overall, the results suggest that curriculum details play an important role in the outcomes of vocational training programs and that leveraging skill complementarity can yield tangible benefits.

Keywords: job training; soft skills; complementarity; vocational education; randomized trial (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:ilrrev:v:78:y:2025:i:4:p:692-711

DOI: 10.1177/00197939251316849

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