Job Content and Skill Requirements in an Era of Accelerated Diffusion of Innovation:...

This paper outlines an approach to talent management and delivery that incorporates research on the dynamics of supply and demand for knowledge, skills, and abilities at the detailed work activity level (DWA). "Analysis of DWAs provides a bridge between macro-level data (e.g., economic growth, industry staffing-patterns, occupational employment, unemployment rates, etc.) and micro-level decision-making (e.g., individual career exploration, informed choice in the selection of education and training options, job search, employment and advancement). Redesigning research around the DWA construct can provide actionable information for using policy levers to efficiently clear labor markets and utilize individual human capital" (p. 1). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

Full Publication Title: Job Content and Skill Requirements in an Era of Accelerated Diffusion of Innovation: Modeling Skills at the Detailed Work Activity (DWA) Level for Operational Decision Support

• “Gap analysis derived from skill demand and supply comparisons at the micro level can be translated into actionable information for employers, job-seekers, intermediaries and education and training partners in the workforce development system” (p.10). • “To respond effectively to rapid and increasingly frequent changes at the micro-level, employers, workers and the workforce intermediaries who serve both need real-time data on the demand for skills rather than time-lagged, occupation-centric data gathered through sample surveys” (p.15). • “The accelerated diffusion of innovation necessitates the constant mining of micro data to identify emerging job skill requirements in order to provide information individuals need to make timely adjustments” (p. 19). • Micro-level data, rather than macro-level data, are essential to compare an individual’s skill endowment to current demands for skills in the local market (p.27). • Workforce operations managers and individuals lack sufficient micro-level information to respond in real-time to maladjustments in human capital supply and demand. Resultant skills gaps need to be identified at the individual level to help them become employable (p.28). • Skill-centric, real-time information better serves operational and individual efforts to adjust to heterogeneity in content at the job level, changes in specific job skill requirements, and trends in returns to skills (p.103). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2012
• Author(s): Anderberg, Marc
• Organizational Author(s): SkillsNET Foundation
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by:
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies