Occupational and industry specificity of human capital in the British labour market

Abstract

This paper builds on the recent literature on the importance of occupational and industry experience on wages and extends Kambourov and Manovskii’s (2002) study using British data. Occupational experience is estimated to make a significant contribution to wage growth, while the evidence on industry specificity is not very supportive. The second contribution of the paper is that it assesses whether there is heterogeneity in the estimated returns to work experience across 1-digit industries and occupations. The findings suggest that industry and occupational experience is important for individuals in professional and managerial jobs or jobs in the banking and finance sector.