Rapid research progress in science and technology (S&T) and continuously shifting workforce needs exert pressure on each other and on the educational and training systems that link them. Higher education institutions aim to equip new generations of students with skills and expertise relevant to workforce participation for decades to come, but their offerings sometimes misalign with commercial needs and new techniques forged at the frontiers of research. Here, we analyze and visualize the dynamic skill (mis-)alignment between academic push, industry pull, and educational offerings, paying special attention to the rapidly emerging areas of data science and data engineering (DS/DE). The visualizations and computational models presented here can help key decision makers understand the evolving structure of skills so that they can craft educational programs that serve workforce needs. Our study uses millions of publications, course syllabi, and job advertisements published between 2010 and 2016. We show how courses mediate between research and jobs. We also discover responsiveness in the academic, educational, and industrial system in how skill demands from industry are as likely to drive skill attention in research as the converse. Finally, we reveal the increasing importance of uniquely human skills, such as communication, negotiation, and persuasion. These skills are currently underexamined in research and undersupplied through education for the labor market. In an increasingly data-driven economy, the demand for “soft” social skills, like teamwork and communication, increase with greater demand for “hard” technical skills and tools.
At least one co-author has disclosed a financial relationship of potential relevance for this research. Further information is available online at http://www.nber.org/papers/w27419.ack NBER working papers are circulated for discussion and comment purposes. They have not been peer-reviewed or been subject to the review by the NBER Board of Directors that accompanies official NBER publications.
Background: Effective treatment strategies exist for substance use disorder (SUD), however severe hurdles remain in ensuring adequacy of the SUD treatment (SUDT) workforce as well as improving SUDT affordability, access and stigma. Although evidence shows recent increases in SUD medication access from expanding Medicaid availability under the Affordable Care Act, it is yet unknown whether these policies also led to a growth in the changes in the nature of hiring in SUDT related workforce, partly due to poor data availability. Our study uses novel data to shed light on recent trends in a fast-evolving and policy-relevant labor market, and contributes to understanding the current SUDT related workforce and the effect of Medicaid expansion on hiring attempts in this sector.Methods and Data: We examine attempts over 2010-2018 at hiring in the SUDT and related behavioral health sector as background for estimating the causal effect of the 2014-and-beyond state Medicaid expansion on these outcomes through "difference-in-difference" econometric models. We use Burning Glass Technologies (BGT) data covering virtually all U.S. job postings by employers.Findings: Nationally, we find little growth in the sector's hiring attempts in 2010-2018 relative to the rest of the economy or to health care as a whole. However, this masks diverging trends in subsectors, which saw reduction in hospital based hiring attempts, increases towards outpatient facilities, and changes in occupational hiring demand shifting from medical personnel towards counselors and social workers. Medicaid expansion did not lead to any statistically significant or meaningful change in overall hiring attempts in the SUDT related sector during this time period, although there is evidence of increases among some occupations.Conclusions: Although nationally, hiring attempts in the SUDT related sector as measured by the number of job advertisements have not grown substantially, there was a shift in the hiring landscape. Many national factors including reimbursement policy may play a role in incentivizing demand for the SUDT related workforce, but our research does not show that recent state expansions in Medicaid was one such factor.
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