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CTDO Magazine

Desperately Seeking Skill Upgrades

Thursday, December 15, 2016

More education and training are required of a larger number of jobs.

As the economy moves deeper into the knowledge-focused age, a growing number of working adults in the United States think that new skills and training hold the key to their future job success. That's the principal finding of a new study from the Pew Research Center.

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Conducted in association with the Markle Foundation, The State of American Jobs surveyed more than 5,000 U.S. adults about changes reshaping the workplace. According to Pew, more jobs today reward social, communications, and analytical skills, "prodding many workers to think about lifetime commitments to retraining and upgrading their skills."

Workers want training

More than half (54 percent) of the study respondents say it will be essential for them to get training and develop new skills throughout their careers if they want to succeed at work. And 35 percent of workers say they don't have the education or training they need to get ahead.

"It's the most highly educated workers who feel this most acutely," states Pew. Some 63 percent of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher level of education say they will need to keep advancing their skills throughout their careers, compared with 45 percent of those with no college experience who feel the same sense of urgency.

These findings concur with Pew's analysis of government jobs data, which finds that for the past several decades, employment has been rising faster in jobs requiring higher levels of preparation. In other words, more jobs today need more education, training, and experience. For instance, the number of workers in occupations requiring average to above-average education and training increased from 49 million in 1980 to 83 million in 2015. That's a 68 percent uptick.

Many already are taking action or are being asked to pursue new levels of professional training or educational degrees and certificates by their employers or by licensing requirements in their jobs. Pew found that 45 percent of employed adults say they received extra training to improve their job skills in the past 12 months.

Soft skills take center stage

"When people think about what it takes for workers to be successful in the evolving economy, large majorities rank a mixture of technical and soft skills as critical," asserts Pew, with interpersonal skills, critical thinking, and good written and spoken communications skills topping the list. For instance, ability to work with those from diverse backgrounds is deemed extremely or very important by 85 percent of survey respondents.

Workers who rely heavily on these soft skills report that they acquired them in different settings. Among workers who say that having interpersonal skills is extremely or very important for them to do their job, about 35 percent say they learned those skills on the job. Meanwhile, for workers who say management or leadership skills are extremely or very important for their job, 68 percent report learning through work experience.

The data also conclude that the workplace is an important training ground for sharpening critical thinking skills. Nearly half (46 percent) of workers say they learn these skills on the job, and about one in five (19 percent) say they acquire critical thinking skills through formal education.

Interestingly, this changing nature of work could signal good news for women, says Pew. The new analysis of employment data shows that since 1980, employment in jobs requiring stronger social skills—namely interpersonal, communications, or management skills—increased from 49 million to 90 million. Further, employment increased 77 percent (from 49 million to 86 million) in jobs requiring higher levels of analytical skills, including critical thinking and computer use. Pew reports that women, who represent 47 percent of the overall workforce, make up the majority of workers in jobs where such social or analytical skills are relatively more important—55 percent and 52 percent, respectively.

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Individuals responsible for their own readiness

No doubt, many forces are behind this call to retool worker competencies: advances in technology, global work teams, and the growing contingent workforce, to name a few. So, who's responsible for providing the training and skill development necessary to meet evolving workplace demands?

Surprisingly, Pew finds that the majority of Americans (72 percent) think that the main responsibility for preparing and keeping workers up to speed on job requirements falls on the individual workers themselves. However, "employers often provide the impetus for workers to get additional training," says Pew.

Overall, 37 percent of employed adults report that they have taken a class or pursued extra training to improve their job skills or to work toward a license or certification. Among this group, 52 percent say they did this because their employer required it. Roughly one-third (34 percent) say they needed the extra training to earn more money, and about a quarter say they needed training to get a new job (26 percent) or to be promoted in their current job (25 percent).

Bottom line: About half of U.S. workers in the Pew study describe their job as a career, while 18 percent say it is a springboard to a career. Whether viewed as a career, stepping-stone, or short-lived gig, the consensus is that training and acquiring new skills is critical to not being left behind in a continually changing workforce.

Read more from CTDO magazine: Essential talent development content for C-suite leaders.

About the Author

Ryann K. Ellis is an editor for the Association of Talent Development (ATD). She has been covering workplace learning and performance for ATD (formerly the American Society for Training & Development) since 1995. She currently sources and authors content for TD Magazine and CTDO, as well as manages ATD's Community of Practice blogs. Contact her at [email protected]

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