A brand-new assessment comparing the cognitive and workplace skills of U.S. adults to those of their peers in other countries was just released and will certainly draw attention. (See OECD Skills Outlook 2013.) News of a U.S. skills gap is not new. We have known for quite some time that high numbers of Americans remain unemployed, while millions of positions remain open and more than 95 percent of Business Roundtable CEOs have reported that their companies suffer from skills shortages.
What the new Program for the International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) shows us for the first time is how the workplace skills of U.S. 16- to 65-year-olds stack up to adults in other nations, and the results are not good.
On measures of literacy, numeracy and problem solving in technology-rich environments, U.S. adults fall below international averages. The factors accounting for higher gaps are those that have become all-too-familiar divisions in American society: educational attainment levels of individuals and their parents, quality of health care, where the individual was born – whether in or outside of the United States – and differences between skilled and unskilled occupations.
Without doubt, U.S. economic performance, job creation and global competitiveness are tied to the preparedness of the U.S. workforce, but the long-term negative effects of the skills gap reach beyond business and economics. They impact individual lives, families and our society as a whole.
The U.S. business community has a role in helping close the skills gap, and Business Roundtable-member companies are actively engaged in finding solutions, working through public-private partnerships and on their own to narrow the gap. But business investment alone cannot solve such a large-scale societal problem. Government at every level has a responsibility to ensure that education and training meet the needs of the modern workplace.
Business Roundtable has just released specific policy recommendations, from early learning to workforce training, to help improve the way America educates and trains individuals for success in college and the workplace. Focusing attention on adults and not just recent high school grads, support for different pathways to attain needed skills and access to online training are among the report’s solutions targeted at addressing the skills gap. (See "Taking Action on Education and Workforce Preparedness.”)
Addressing and closing the skills gap is imperative for America. It is and will remain a priority for Business Roundtable members and the U.S. business community at large, and we look forward to working with all stakeholders to ensure it remains a priority for America’s leaders.
News coverage ...
- New York Times, "U.S. Adults Fare Poorly in a Study of Skills"
- AP, "US adults score below average on worldwide test"
- Inside Higher Ed, "Troubling Stats on Adult Literacy"
- Reuters, "Italy, Spain come bottom of OECD's basic skills class"
- AP, "Lack of worker skills threatens European recovery"