Reproducibility package for Click, Code, Earn: The Returns To Digital Skills

This paper provides the first comprehensive, cross-country evidence on the wage returns to digital skills using over 67 million job postings from 29 countries between 2021 and 2024. We develop a harmonized digital skills taxonomy and examine returns across extensive (any digital skill required), intensive (number of digital skills), and qualitative (type of digital skill) margins. Digital skills command substantial wage premiums globally, with particularly pronounced returns in low-and middle-income countries (LMICs) where such competencies remain scarce. Requiring at least one digital skill raises advertised wages by 1.6% on average, with returns of 1.3% in high-income countries (HICs) and 7.5% in LMICs. Each additional digital skill increases wages by 0.5% in HICs and 2.6% in LMICs, while intermediate and advanced skills yield even higher premiums of 0.8% in HICs and 3% in LMICs. Each traditional AI skills offer returns of 2.9% across all countries. Most remarkably, generative AI (GenAI) skills demonstrate the highest premiums: GenAI development skills command 7-9% wage increases in technical occupations, while GenAI literacy skills yield sizable premiums of 25-36% in non-technical professional roles, reflecting both their productivity potential and current scarcity. Returns are consistently higher in digitally intensive industries and occupations, and are amplified by workers' education and experience, suggesting strong complementarities between digital competencies and traditional human capital. These findings highlight the critical importance of digital skills for individual earnings and economic development, particularly in LMICs.