Skills
The research focus in this domain is on connecting 21st Century competencies with education, training, and applied learning pathways.
Key questions:
- What skills, abilities, cognitive knowledge, values, and interests underlie qualifications needed in the labor market?
- Do knowledge clusters exist as framed by these skills, abilities, knowledge, and values? What are the relationships between knowledge clusters and industry and occupational clusters at the national, state, and local levels?
- How can this understanding help match general skills development with education curricula, training, and career pathways?
To help address these questions, the Center employs the O*NET database, a Department of Labor information system, that examines occupational competencies required for success in particular occupations and related clusters of similar careers. The O*NET occupational data is anchored in a tripartite set of cognitive competencies: knowledge, skills, and abilities. Further, O*NET classifies competencies that are tied to individual personality traits and prove to be markers for success in individual occupations.
The Center uses the O*NET database to map quantifiable knowledge, skills, and abilities in the labor market thereby illuminating aspects of human capital, human capital development, and overall macroeconomic flexibility of the economy. The Center puts a unique twist on its use of O*NET by merging its data with the Current Population Survey (CPS) at the three-digit occupation level. Most recently, the Center merged O*NET data with the Obama Administration's estimates of stimulus job creation to produce an analysis of education and training requirements.
