SOCIAL SCIENCE RESEARCH 15, 269-296 (1986) Jobs and Skills: A Multivariate Structural Approach ARNE L. KALLEBERG University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill AND KEVIN T. LEICHT Indiana University In this paper, we illustrate a multivariate structural approach to explaining inequalities in job skills. We argue that skill differences are produced by work structures operating at several levels of analysis, including organizations, oc- cupations, technology, and unions. In addition, background characteristics of individuals are important for allocating men and women to positions in the technical division of labor. We derive measures of two dimensions of job skills (substantive complexity and autonomy) from questionnaires completed by 4567 workers, managers, and supervisors of 54 plants in 7 manufacturing industries in south-central Indiana. We supplement these questionnaire data with information on work structures obtained from interviews with key informants in each plant, which yielded information on the organizational and technological correlates of skill; and measures of occupational activities from the Dictionary of Occupational Titles (3rd ed., U.S. Bureau of the Census, U.S. Govt. Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1965). Our contextual models provide evidence that the different work structures have distinct impacts on the two dimensions of job skills. o 1986 Academic Press. Inc. The concept of “skill” is central to many fundamental issues in the social sciences. All debates about the labor process, such as the relative importance of technology and social relations in shaping the organization of work, turn on some conception of skills. Sociologists view skills as key attributes of organizations, industries, occupations, and other correlates of the technical division of labor. Economists see skills as indicators of This article is a revision of a paper presented at the 79th Annual Meetings of the American Sociological Association, San Antonio, TX, 1984. Research was supported by National Science Foundation Grant SES-8207854. We thank Larry Griffin, Ken Spenner, and Jim Baron for their comments on earlier versions of this paper. Direct correspondence and requests for reprints to Kevin T. Leicht, Department of Sociology, Ballantine Hall, Indiana University, Bloomington, IN 47401. 269 0049-089X/86 $3.00 Copyright 0 1986 by Academic Press. Inc. All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.