How transversal are soft skills? Evidence from online job vacancies

Soft skills – the ability to manage yourself, manage others, and the tasks you perform – are increasingly seen as essential for success in the labour market. Traditionally, soft skills have been considered transversal competences, i.e., competences required in a wide range of occupations and activities. However, there is little evidence to assess the extent to which this is true. This article presents evidence of the degree of transferability and transversality of soft skills in the labour market using data from 1.7 million online job offers in Catalonia. This data covers a broad segment of the labour market and captures the demand for different skills from companies with a high level of granularity. Our results indicate that soft skills are not highly transversal, except for a small subset of broadly demanded and transferable skills. Our results point to the need to stop treating the terms soft skills and transversal skills as synonyms. On the contrary, soft skills should be considered specific skills, the need for which and their relevance vary significantly between different occupations and sectors. Identifying these specific competence needs and prioritizing their teaching will be essential to building an effective and prepared workforce.