The Skills Gap

A MarketPoint Infographic

The Skills Gap: the point at which an organization can no longer grow or remain competitive
because it cannot fill critical jobs with employees who have the right knowledge, skills, and abilities
(ASTD)

How Bad Is It?

84%

of employers report a
skills gap in their own
organizations (ASTD)

69

The highest areas for skills gaps: (ASTD)

Middle- and
high-skills jobs

54%

comprise the largest

gaps (ASTD)

million
people

Leadership
and executive
skills

37%

Managerial
Job- or
and supervisory industryskills
specific skills

3.5 million manufacturing jobs will

Representing roughly

48% of the labor

work in middle-skills
jobs (Kochan, Finegold
and Osterman)

38%

be needed over the next decade (Deloitte)

force (Kochan, Finegold

and Osterman)

2 million manufacturing jobs are expected

to go unfilled due to the skills gap (Deloitte)

By 2020, we can expect a global shortage of

approximately 40 million high-skilled
workers and 45 million medium-skilled

At the same time, there will be a surplus

of 95 million low-skilled workers

workers (Dobbs, Manyika and Woetzel)

(Dobbs, Manyika and Woetzel)

Why Does It Exist? (ASTD)

58%

55%

worker skills do not

match evolving
strategy, goals,
markets, or business
models

41%

not enough bench

strength in the
companys leadership
ranks

30%

underinvestment or a
lack of commitment by
senior leaders to
learning & development

18%

too few qualified

candidates (i.e., a gap
in the pipeline)

8%

lack of skilled talent in

one or more of the
companys lines of
business

acquired employees or
current employees are
not up-to-speed

52%

of employers say their workers

receive company-provided training

21%

But only
of employees
acknowledge receiving training
(Accenture)
Universities werent designed to
change curricula and introduce new
classes at the pace required by
changing industry requirements.
(Yang)

What Are the

Consequences?

39%
of U.S. employers reported
difficulty filling jobs due to lack
of available talent (Bessen)

75%

11%
Resulting in an 11% decline
in EBITDA (Accenture)

of manufacturers report a
moderate-to-severe shortage of
skilled resources

Two-thirds of employers anticipate a loss of business to competitors,

due to shortages in IT skills, engineering skills, R&D
skills, and sales skills (Accenture)

46%

of U.S. Executives at large firms are

concerned they wont have the skills
they need in the next one to two years
(Accenture)

9%

We can expect a 9% decline in

the standard of living by 2030
unless we address labor market
challenges (Benitez)

What Are Employers Doing About It? (Accenture)

42%

using mobile
delivery for training

35%

using
social media

27%

leveraging Massive Open

Online Courses / MOOCs

13%

experimenting with
gamification

Checklists for Combating the Skills Gap:

(U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation)

Students and Workers Should:

develop
employer-focused
career plans

pursue career
advancement
opportunities

access preferred
provider networks for
entry-level opportunities

plan and manage their careers

join and use

professional
networks

Employers Should:

plan and
communicate
workforce needs

establish flexible and

responsive partnership
networks

develop balanced
end-to-end pipeline
performance
measures

connect their talent

strategies to their
business strategies

align incentives to
improve talent pipeline
performance and
recruitment

Accenture. "2013 Skills and Employment Trends Survery: Perspectives on Training." 2014. Web. 8 August 2015.
<https://www.accenture.com/ae-en/insight-accenture-2013-skills-employment-trends-survey-perspectives-on-training.aspx>.
. "Accenture 2014 Manufacturing Skills and Training Study." 2014. PDF. 8 August 2015.
<http://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/Research/Skills-and-Training-Study/~/media/70965D0C4A944329894C96E0316DF336.ashx>.
ASTD. "Bridging the Skills Gap Help Wanted, Skills Lacking: Why the Mismatch in Today's Economy?" Update. 2012. PDF. 6 July 2015.
<https://d2p9xuzeb0m4p4.cloudfront.net/~/media/Files/About%20ASTD/Public%20Policy/2009-Bridging-SkillsGap-coverweb/Bridging%20the%20Skills%20Gap_2012.pdf>.
Benitez, Jorge. Closing the Skills Gap with a Talent Supply Chain. 30 September 2014. PDF. 7 July 2015.
<https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/closing-skills-gap-talent-supply-chain>.
Bessen, James. Employers Aren't Just Whining - the "Skills Gap" is Real. 25 August 2014. Article. 10 June 2015.
<https://hbr.org/2014/08/employers-arent-just-whining-the-skills-gap-is-real>.
Deloitte. "The skills gap in U.S. manufacturing 2015 and beyond." 2015. Web. 7 July 2015.
<http://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/~/media/827DBC76533942679A15EF7067A704CD.ashx>.
Dobbs, Richard, James Manyika and Jonathan Woetzel. How U.S. companies can ll the skills gap. 12 May 2015. Article. 7 July 2015.
<http://fortune.com/2015/05/12/how-u-s-companies-can-fill-the-skills-gap/>.
Kochan, Thomas A., David Finegold and Paul Osterman. Who Can Fix the "Middle-Skills" Gap? December 2012. Article. 7 July 2015.
<https://hbr.org/2012/12/who-can-fix-the-middle-skills-gap>.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation. "Managing the Talent Pipeline: A New Approach to Closing the Skills Gap." 2014. PDF. 7 July 2015.
<https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/sites/default/files/Managing%20the%20Talent%20Pipeline.pdf>.
Yang, Dennis. Can We Fix The Skills Gap? 2 August 2013. Blog. 10 June 2015.
<http://www.forbes.com/sites/groupthink/2013/08/02/can-we-fix-the-skills-gap/#664ed857781d>.

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