The most important resource in any economy or organization is its human capital—that is, the collective knowledge, attributes, skills, experience, and health of the workforce. While human capital development starts in early childhood and continues through formal education, the McKinsey Global Institute and McKinsey’s People & Organizational Performance Practice have focused new research on the next stage, which spans the full working life.

Human capital is much more than a macroeconomic abstraction. Each person has a unique, living, breathing set of capabilities. Those capabilities belong to the individual, who decides where to put them to work. The degree of choice is not limitless, of course. People are the products of geography, family, and education; their starting points matter. Having career options also depends on an individual’s abilities and attributes, their networks, their family obligations, the health of the broader labor market, and societal factors.

While we recognize these constraints, career moves are nevertheless an important mechanism for expanding skills and increasing earnings. The patterns within our data set show that moving into a new role pays off—and even more so when someone lands a new position that stretches their capabilities or represents a match that better utilizes their skills.

Individuals can’t make bold moves that represent a real leap unless an employer sees their potential and takes a chance on hiring them.

In our data sample, roughly a third of US, German, and UK workers, and almost a quarter of Indian workers, are on a path to move up one or more quintiles in estimated lifetime earnings from their career starting points. This upwardly mobile group stands out for making more frequent and bolder role moves. For people without educational credentials who start out in low-paying positions in particular, movement is critical to boosting their earnings.

Role moves help individuals continuously upgrade their skills, raise their income, and build track records that translate into value. However, individuals can’t make bold moves that represent a real leap unless an employer sees their potential and takes a chance on hiring them. The most effective way for an individual to maximize the “experience effect” is to join an organization that prioritizes and strengthens their development.

Our research focuses on how work experience builds on the foundation of formal education and enhances the value of human capital (see Sidebar, “How we model the link between role moves and the addition of skills to lifetime earnings”). We define work experience holistically as the accumulated knowledge that workers gain by being in the labor market. This can occur through doing the work itself, formal employer-provided learning and development programs, and job changes that better match someone’s existing skills or enable that person to add new skills.

Organizations set up their working environments with systems and practices that help employees become more productive. When people enter these settings, value is created. In addition to earning wages, workers gain knowledge and new capabilities that they carry with them for the remainder of their careers. Many roles require employees to become proficient with new types of software or equipment. Employees benefit from structured learning programs and daily coaching on the job. There are insights to be gained from watching colleagues handle tricky situations gracefully (or not) and seeing how managers motivate their teams (or do not).

Someone who starts out taking orders in a fast-food restaurant learns the art of handling difficult customers and staying cool under pressure. Someone who starts in IT by answering questions on a help desk absorbs technical knowledge that they continue to use when they become a network administrator. An inventory clerk who watches his manager solve logistical logjams can apply those approaches in a future role as a warehouse manager or procurement agent.