Formal Education and Initial Employment: Unravelling the Relationships Between Schooling and Skills Over Time

Abstract

This research examines skill changes in the occupational structure of entry-level jobs in Canada, circa 1930-80, along with the changing importance of years of formal education as a criterion for occupational allocation. For both men and women, entry-level jobs with high cognitive complexity and verbal-activity requirements appear to have become more common, and those with high gross-motor activity requirements less common. Throughout the period, formal education was an important factor for entry into certain kinds of occupations. Finally, the importance of schooling for occupational access seems to have become more important in recent times.