Pew Research Highlights State of American Jobs, Skills

The majority of Americans say new skills and training are critical to their future job success and to remain competitive in changing workplaces, according to a new report issued by the Pew Research Center in association with the Markle Foundation. This was particularly true for individuals working in STEM occupations, where roughly two-thirds of employed adults responded that ongoing training and skills development would be essential to their development. The State of American Jobs combines an analysis of government economic data with a survey of more than 5,000 adults conducted during the summer of 2016. The report includes: analysis on trends in job and wage growth by occupations; public assessments of the job situation and worker readiness; views on job satisfaction; the types of skills required for work; and, public views about the value of college education.

When asked about skills, more than one-third of workers (35 percent) stated they did not have the education and training they needed to advance in the workplace, though 45 percent said they received extra training in the past year to improve their job skills. Workers with higher levels of education are more likely to engage in job training, according to the report. Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of adults with at least a bachelor’s degree said they would need to keep advancing skills throughout their career, compared to 45 percent of those with no college experience.

The majority of respondents (72 percent) said that responsibility for having the right skills lies with the individual, followed by the public K-12 educational system (60 percent), colleges and universities (52 percent), employers (49 percent), state governments (40 percent), and lastly, the federal government (35 percent). Democrats and Indpendents who lean Democratic were more likely to say public schools, colleges, and governments should have responsibility for preparing workers, while Republicans and Republican leaners placed more emphasis on individuals, according to the report.

Half of those surveyed think that college should teach job-related skills, compared to 35 percent who say it should help individuals grow personally. Just 16 percent think that four-year degrees prepare students very well for well-paying jobs in today’s economy. For workers to be successful in today’s economy, computer skills, working with people from different backgrounds, and training in writing and communicating were each considered to be extremely or very important skills and traits by 85 percent of the survey’s respondents.

From 1980-2015 there was considerable growth in jobs requiring social skills (83 percent) and analytical skills (77 percent), while jobs requiring physical skills grew just 18 percent, according to the report. Jobs requiring both higher social and higher analytical skills (e.g., teacher, management) generally performed better than others, growing 94 percent since 1980. Women, who represent 47 percent of the total workforce, made up the majority of jobs requiring social (55 percent) and analytical (52 percent) skills.

Similarly, wages in jobs requiring high levels of analytical and social skills have also increased. Workers in jobs requiring higher levels of analytical skills saw their average hourly wages increase by 19 percent from 1990 to 2015, growing from $23 to $27 per hour, according to the report. Workers in jobs requiring higher levels of social skills also saw their wages increase from $22 to $26 over the same period, an increase of 15 percent when adjusted for inflation. Workers employed in physical labor jobs saw their average hourly wages increase just 7 percent, rising from $16 in 1990 to $18 in 2015. The authors of the report suggest that wage growth in these types of jobs likely contributed to the shrinking gender pay gap, citing previous Pew research.

Although most of those surveyed have confidence in their job security, they also believe there is less job security now than in the past and that more job insecurity awaits future workers. Feelings on job security are closely related to educational attainment. Approximately 20 percent of workers with a high school diploma or less stated they believe their boss could potentially use technology to replace them, a rate that nearly doubles those with bachelor’s degrees. 

In the upcoming election, most respondents (37 percent) consider the economy the most important issue, according to the report, followed by health care (18 percent), terrorism (14 percent), immigration (13 percent), and gun policy (13 percent). Republicans (43 percent) and Democrats (48 percent) both cite jobs as the first or second key economic issue driving their decision, though they differ in other areas. Republicans, for example, are three times more likely to cite the budget deficit as a top issue (62 percent vs. 20 percent), while Democrats were more than four times as likely to place importance on income inequality (54 percent vs. 12 percent). The report finds that there are no significant gaps between Democrats and Republicans with regard to the importance of global trade.

Read The State of American Jobs here: http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2016/10/ST_2016.10.06_Future-of-Work_FINAL4.pdf