Celebrating the 45th Anniversary of the University of Macau:

Computational Social Sciences Workshop | Skill Diversification Beyond High-Paying Jobs

Speaker: Prof. Siqi Han, Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Chinese University of Hong Kong

Date: 4/5/2026 (Monday)

Time: 13:30 – 15:00

Venue: E21B-G016

Language: English

Register: https://isw.um.edu.mo/evmapp/register/css_siqihan

Abstract:

An emerging literature examines the evolving skill profiles in the contemporary labor market, but remains limited in three key respects. It emphasizes occupational over job-level dynamics, focuses on high-paying jobs while overlooking low-paying ones, and ignores interrelationships among skills across the labor market. We advance this literature with a Skill Embedding framework that maps skills onto a multidimensional space to capture their interconnections. Using large-scale job postings data in the U.S., we construct within-job skill diversity measures and link them to nationally representative surveys. We find that the increase in within-job skill diversity in service jobs is three times as large as that in management jobs. In both professional and personal service occupations, diversification is largely driven by lower-status workers, and returns are lower in personal service jobs than in professional occupations. These findings reveal overlooked skill dynamics in low-wage work and demonstrate the value of a system-wide, distributional approach to analyzing skill relationships.

Bio:

Prof. Siqi Han is an Assistant Professor of Sociology at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, where she is also involved with the computational social science cluster. Her research focuses on the structure of knowledge within college curricula, the interplay between field of study and school-to-work transitions, and the economic returns of skills in the labor market. Recent updates to her work include exploring skill diversity at the job level, economic returns to curriculum interdisciplinarity, deservingness described in college crowdfunding campaigns, and national gender egalitarian progress in relation to women’s overeducation. These papers appeared in American Journal of Sociology, PNAS, European Sociological Review, Journal of Marriage and Family, Social Science Research, Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, among others.

For those who have registered and attended the workshop, 1 SP & 15.0 “Knowledge integration ” (CS) will be given to each student. Please note the following guidelines of Smart Point scheme:

• Students who attend the WHOLE activity and arrive ON TIME will be given one Smart Point;
• Students who arrive late or leave early within 10 minutes will be given only half a Smart Point;
• Students who arrive late or leave early over 10 minutes will NOT be given any Smart Point;
• Students who leave the venue during the activity for over 15 minutes will NOT be given any Smart Point;
• Students are required to check in/out of the activity with Student ID Card.

Enquiry：8822 8976 or fss.enquiry@um.edu.mo