No abstract

This article analyzes changes in the occupational employment share in Spain for the period 1997-2012 and the way particular sociodemographic groups adapt to those changes. There seems to be clear evidence of employment polarization between 1997 and 2012 that accelerates over the recession. Changes in the composition of the labour supply cannot explain the increase in the share of occupations at the low end of the wage distribution. Sector reallocation may have partially contributed to explain the polarization process in Spain during the years of expansion (1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006)(2007) but it is a minor factor during the recession. The polarization of occupations within sectors observed, especially during the recession, appears to be related to a decline in routine tasks which is compensated by an increase in occupations with non-routine service contents, which are found both in the low and high end of the wage distribution. Instead, jobs with a higher degree of abstract contents do not appear to increase their share in total employment during these 15 years. The paper finds that this process has affected males more strongly than females because of their higher concentration in occupations more focused on routine tasks. Among males, for workers under 30 years old, we find a decrease in the share of occupations with more routine tasks which turns into increases in those with more abstract content and particularly with more non-routine service content. Instead, male workers over 30 years old seem to remain in declining occupations to a greater extent. Females of different ages are not affected by the abovementioned changes.

El objetivo de este artículo es analizar la evolución de las brechas salariales de género usando los datos de la Encuesta de Estructura Salarial (EES) española y europea. En la primera parte, comparamos las brechas salariales de género por hora, sin ajustar, en España y en distintos países europeos. En la segunda parte, nos centraremos en el caso de España y estimamos, para los años 2002, 2006, 2010 y 2014, las brechas salariales ajustadas, es decir controlando no solo por variables socioeconómicas (sexo, edad, nivel educativo y experiencia), sino también por variables características del empleo y de la empresa (tamaño de la empresa, tipo de contrato, tipo de jornada, ocupación y sector de actividad). Además, calculamos las brechas salariales a lo largo de la distribución salarial, tanto las brechas no ajustadas, como las ajustadas. Las brechas ajustadas se estiman utilizando regresiones cuantílicas. Palabras clave: género, brechas salariales de género, encuesta de estructura salarial.

We use the Programme for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) data to construct several measures of non-cognitive skills and to analyze the relationship between non-cognitive skills and earnings. We construct measures for non-cognitive skills based on previous research in the field, such as selfreports and non-response in the background questionnaire. We also take advantage of the computer based nature of the assessment to explore the effects of other constructs such as skipped questions in the test, average time per question, average time per correct answer and the number of keyboard and mouse movements before answering a question. We find that, even after controlling for PIAAC scores, previously proposed proxies of non-cognitive skills (self-reports and survey non-response) are significantly associated with individual earnings. We also use these measures of non-cognitive skills to propose a correction of the PIAAC scores as a measure of cognitive skills in the earnings equation. By doing so, we observe that the relationship between earnings and PIAAC scores might be partially mediated by non-cognitive skills. However, our results also show that PIAAC test scores remain highly significant and as the main determinant of earnings after the correction.