Does it take extra skills to work in a large city?
利用在线招聘数据，研究发现大城市同类职位比小城市要求更多且更多样的技能，表明城市工作更复杂，这有助于解释城市的生产率溢价和城乡劳动力市场差异。
This paper explores the relationship between job complexity and agglomeration. For this, we assess whether vacancies in larger cities require more skills than vacancies for similar jobs elsewhere. The use of online job vacancy data allows us to empirically analyse the spatial variation in skill requirements within occupations. Results show that jobs in dense areas require extra skills compared to similar jobs in sparsely populated areas. Moreover, we show that jobs in large cities require a more diverse skill set. This indicates that urban jobs are more complex. These findings help explain the productivity premium of cities and spatial inequalities between urban and rural labour markets. • This paper explores the relationship between job complexity and agglomeration economies. • The paper uses online job vacancy data to measure skill demand within occupations. • Jobs in large cities require more skills and a more diverse skill set, indicating a higher job complexity.