Cognitive Dominance in U.S. Labor Markets: Harmonizing Task Intensities, 1980–2014
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This paper constructs harmonized, multi-dimensional measures of occupational task intensities for the United States from 1980-2014 by reconciling the Dictionary of Occupational Titles and O*NET. The resulting indices allow task intensities to vary within occupations over time and are linked to Census and ACS microdata. I document a pronounced rise in the importance of cognitive tasks -"cognitive dominance"- driven by both increasing task intensity and higher associated wage gradients. This mechanism helps explain three major labor-market trends: wage polarization, the rising college wage premium, and the narrowing gender wage gap, with most task changes occurring within occupations.
