Using tools to distinguish general and occupation-specific skills

Data on tool use from O*Net’s Tools and Technologies Supplement can, in conjunction with task-based measures, provide a new proxy for measuring and distinguishing general and specific skills at the occupational level. The tools and types of tools used in an occupation generate reasonable proxies for skill that vary across occupations and appear to capture features of occupations that differ from and complement task-based proxies for skill. Wage regressions indicate that job-specific tools, which correspond to particular occupations, are associated with higher pay. Non-specific tools correlate to lower-paying sales, service and administrative occupations.