From 1980 to 2012, math-intensive but less-social jobs, including many STEM occupations, declined by 3.3 percentage points as a share of the U.S. labor force.
Notes on verification
Directly corroborated by NBER working paper, published QJE paper, NBER Digest, and independent secondary source; figure consistent across primary and secondary sources. [tier=unverified indep_score=0.3 clusters=2 claim_tier=notable] [rescored 2026-09-15: curated origin-host map (PR #65); unclassified hosts no longer scored as aggregators]
Sources
- The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market (seed:relationships_and_lifestyle)
- https://journalistsresource.org/economics/social-skills-valuable-jobs-workers/ (corroboration)
- https://www.nber.org/system/files/working_papers/w21473/w21473.pdf (corroboration)
- https://www.nber.org/digest/nov15/growing-importance-social-skills-labor-market (corroboration)