Tectonic changes are reshaping U.Due south. workplaces every bit the economy moves deeper into the knowledge-focused age. These changes are affecting the very nature of jobs by rewarding social, communications and analytical skills. They are prodding many workers to think about lifetime commitments to retraining and upgrading their skills. And they may be prompting a gild-wide reckoning almost where those constantly evolving skills should be learned – and what the office of colleges should be.

A new Pew Research Center survey, conducted in clan with the Markle Foundation, finds that these new realities are non lost on the American public: The vast majority of U.Due south. workers say that new skills and training may hold the cardinal to their future job success.

That sentiment is echoed in a new Pew Research Middle assay of government jobs data, which finds that for the by several decades, employment has been rising faster in jobs requiring higher levels of grooming – that is, more education, training and experience.

The number of workers in occupations requiring boilerplate to to a higher place-boilerplate educational activity, training and experience increased from 49 meg in 1980 to 83 million in 2015, or past 68%. This was more double the 31% increase over the aforementioned period in employment, from fifty one thousand thousand to 65 million, in jobs requiring beneath-average education, preparation and experience.one

At the same fourth dimension, the national survey – conducted May 25 to June 29, 2016, among five,006 U.South. adults (including 3,096 employed adults) – shows how deeply Americans accept internalized these trends:

Many see personal upgrading equally a abiding: More than than one-half (54%) of adults in the labor force say it will be essential for them to get training and develop new skills throughout their work life in order to keep up with changes in the workplace. And 35% of workers, including about three-in-ten (27%) adults with at least a bachelor's caste, say they don't accept the education and preparation they need to get ahead at piece of work. Many are already taking activity or being required to do so by their employer or by licensing requirements in their jobs: 45% of employed adults say they got extra training to improve their task skills in the past 12 months.

The public sees threats to jobs coming from several directions: Eight-in-10 adults say increased outsourcing of jobs to other countries hurts American workers, and roughly the same share (77%) say having more strange-fabricated products sold in the U.Due south. has been harmful. Significant shares also cite increased utilize of contract or temporary workers (57%) and declines in spousal relationship membership (49%) every bit trends that are hurting, rather than helping, workers. At the same time, global markets for U.Southward.-fabricated products are seen as helpful for workers by 68% of adults. And seven-in-ten say the rising of the internet and email has been a net positive.

Americans recollect the responsibility for preparing and succeeding in today'due south workforce starts with individuals themselves: Roughly seven-in-ten (72%) say "a lot" of responsibility falls on individuals to brand sure that they have the right skills and education to exist successful in today's economic system. And 60% believe public One thousand-12 schools should bear a lot of responsibility for this. After that, views differ on the roles that other entities, such every bit companies and different levels of government, should play in preparing people for the workforce.

The role of higher is being debated: While many college graduates with two- or 4-year degrees describe their ain experience every bit having a positive touch on on them, merely sixteen% of all Americans think that a four-year degree prepares students very well for a well-paying job in today'southward economic system. And at that place is no consensus regarding the main purpose of college. Roughly a third of adults (35%) say it should be to help individuals grow personally and intellectually, while 50% say it should exist to teach job-related skills.

Overall, the survey findings and employment data show how Americans are hustling to adapt to new labor strength realities. Some of the fundamental themes in this two-pronged assay:

The nature of jobs is irresolute, and women may be beneficiaries

The new assay of employment data shows that the job categories with the highest growth tend to require college social skills, analytic savvy and technical prowess. Since 1980, employment in jobs requiring stronger social skills, namely interpersonal, communications or management skills, increased from 49 million to 90 million, or 83%. Further, employment increased 77% (from 49 meg to 86 million) in jobs requiring higher levels of analytical skills, including critical thinking and computer apply. By comparison, the number of workers in jobs requiring college levels of manual or concrete skills, such as machinery operation and physical labor has changed relatively little.2

A look at occupations by the combinations of skills suggests that jobs requiring both college social and higher analytical skills, such as managerial or teaching jobs, are generally doing better than other jobs in terms of employment growth. Employment in these hybrid occupations has grown 94% since 1980 (from 39 million to 76 million), representing a higher growth rate than jobs requiring higher social skills or those calling for college belittling skills.

The analysis of job skills and grooming in this report is based on the U.Southward. Department of Labor's Occupational Information Network (O*NET), a database covering more than 950 occupations. Each occupation is rated on a serial of dimensions, including the importance of various skills and the level of training needed to perform the job.

This report analyzes the changing demand for three major families of job skills – social, analytical and physical. Social skills encompass such things as writing, speaking, managing and negotiating. Examples of analytical skills are critical thinking, mathematics and computer programming. Concrete skills include operating vehicles and machinery and repairing electronic equipment. Occupations were rated as requiring either an average to to a higher place-average level of each major skill type or a below-average level of each skill. The skill ratings utilize the latest available O*NET data and do not change over time. Changes in employment for occupations grouped past the importance of social, belittling and physical skills reflect the irresolute need for each skill. (Employment estimates are derived from the Current Population Survey (CPS); encounter Chapter 1 and Methodology for more than details.)

Many occupations have overlapping skill requirements (eastward.k., it is of import for postsecondary teachers to have higher levels of both social and belittling skills).

The assay too uses O*NET data to examine the changing need for task preparation in the workplace. The level of preparation reflects the combination of education, experience and other forms of training needed on the job. Occupations were rated as requiring either an average to to a higher place-boilerplate level of preparation or a below-average level of preparation. The average level of training corresponds to an associate caste or a like level of vocational training, plus some prior job feel and one or two years of either formal or informal on-the-job training (e.chiliad., electricians).

The shifting demand for skills in the modern workplace may exist working to the benefit of women. Women, who represent 47% of the overall workforce, make up the majority of workers in jobs where social or analytical skills are relatively more of import, 55% and 52%, respectively. For their part, men are relatively more engaged in jobs calling for more than intensive physical and manual skills, making upward seventy% of workers in those occupations. This is likely to have contributed to the shrinking of the gender pay gap from 1980 to 2015 given that wages are ascension much faster in jobs requiring social and analytical skills.

These changes highlight the ascension of a service-oriented and cognition-based economy. From 1990 to 2015, employment growth in the U.S. was led by the educational services and health care and social assistance sectors. Employment has doubled in each of these sectors since 1990 (105% and 99%, respectively). By comparison, overall employment (non-farm) increased thirty% during this period.

Most workers say they will need continuous training, and many say they don't have the skills they need at present to go ahead in their job

Fully 54% of adults who are currently in the labor force say that it volition be essential for them to get grooming and develop new skills throughout their piece of work life to go along up with changes in the workplace. An additional 33% say this volition be important, but not essential. Just 12% of workers say ongoing training will not be of import for them.

It's the most highly educated workers who feel this nigh acutely. Some 63% of adults with a bachelor's degree or higher level of educational activity say they volition demand to keep advancing their skills throughout their career, compared with 45% of those with no college experience who feel the same sense of urgency. Government information reinforce this finding as workers with higher levels of education are more probable to engage in job training or acquire job certificates or licenses.

Young adults are more likely than their older counterparts to run across skills and training as essential (61% among those ages 18 to 29), perhaps considering of the longer trajectory they have ahead of them. Nonetheless, 56% of those ages 30 to 49 say ongoing training will be essential for them, every bit do roughly four-in-ten workers ages fifty and older.

Adults who are working in certain STEM-related industries of science, technology, applied science and math are among the well-nigh likely to say ongoing grooming and skills evolution volition be essential for them. Ii-thirds of employed adults who piece of work in reckoner programming and it say this volition be essential for them. And roughly six-in-ten workers who are in the health care manufacture (62%) say the aforementioned. By contrast, well-nigh one-half of adults working in hospitality (47%), manufacturing or farming (46%) or retail or wholesale merchandise (46%) come across grooming and skills evolution as an essential office of their future piece of work life.3

For some people, acquiring new skills won't just be a necessity in the hereafter: 35% of working adults say they need more educational activity and training now in order to get ahead in their job or career. A plurality of those who say they need more training say the best manner for them to get that grooming would exist through boosted formal didactics. This is true across levels of educational attainment: Four-year higher graduates say they would pursue a graduate caste, two-year college graduates say they would attempt to get a four-twelvemonth degree, and high school graduates say they would go to college.

A pregnant share (about a third) of workers who say they need more training believe on-the-job training would be the best way to gain the skills they need to go alee, while fewer (17%) signal to certificate programs as the nigh promising pathway.

Public sees a mix of soft skills and technical skills equally crucial to success in today's economy

When people think about what it takes for workers to be successful these days, large majorities rank a mixture of technical and "soft skills" as critical, including detailed understanding of how to utilise computers (85% say this is "extremely" or "very" important), ability to work with those from various backgrounds (85%), preparation in writing and communications (85%) and access to training to update skills (82%).

Next on the listing are grooming in scientific discipline and math – 69% believe that is extremely or very important – and knowing computer programming (64%). A smaller share of Americans believe that mastering social media (37%) and knowing a foreign linguistic communication (36%) are at to the lowest degree very important for success in the modern workplace.

When workers are asked most the skills they rely on most in their jobs, interpersonal skills, critical thinking, and adept written and spoken communications skills top the list.4 While virtually Americans say having a detailed understanding of reckoner technology is very important for success in today's economy, only 28% say computer skills are central to the work they do, and even fewer (14%) say they rely on high-level math, analytical or reckoner skills at work.

Workers who rely heavily on interpersonal skills, disquisitional thinking and good communications skills written report that they acquired these skills in different settings. Amongst workers who say that having interpersonal skills is extremely or very important for them to exercise their chore, some 35% say they learned those skills on the task, while 8% say they honed those skills through their formal education. Only a sizable share – 38% – volunteer that they taught themselves those skills or came past them naturally.5

For those who rely on critical thinking skills, the workplace is an important preparation ground. Among workers who say this skill set is important in their chore, 46% say they learned these skills on the job. Nearly one-in-v (xix%) say they acquired these skills in their formal education, and a similar share (xviii%) say they gained these skills through life experience.

Workers are more divided when it comes to where they learned written and spoken communications skills: 42% say they picked up these skills through their formal education, while 30% say they learned these skills through work experience. An boosted 12% say they learned these skills through life feel or that they were cocky-taught.

Pay is almost stuck in place and benefits are less plentiful

The earnings of American workers have increased modestly in recent decades. Co-ordinate to the Eye's analysis of authorities information, the boilerplate hourly wage, adjusted for inflation, increased from $19 in 1990 to $22 in 2015, or 16% in 25 years.6 Jobs requiring higher levels of social or analytical skills generally pay more than jobs requiring college concrete or manual skills, and the pay gap between manual and belittling jobs has grown over the years.

The average hourly wage of workers in jobs requiring higher levels of analytical skills increased from $23 in 1990 to $27 in 2015, or 19%. And the average wages of workers in jobs requiring higher levels of social skills increased from $22 to $26 over that time menses (15%). In the meantime, the average hourly wage of workers in jobs in which physical skills are important increased only 7%, from $sixteen in 1990 to $eighteen in 2015.

The survey finds that pluralities of Americans feel that employer benefits are not as generous equally they were in the past (49% say that) and that they volition continue to worsen in the time to come (44%). They are right virtually the management benefits have been going. Co-ordinate to authorities information, the share of workers with an employer-sponsored health insurance plan (either through their own employer or through the employer of a family member) brutal from 77% in 1980 to 69% in 2013. In improver, the share of workers with access to an employer-sponsored retirement plan has fallen. Information technology nearly recently peaked at 57% in 2001, upwards from fifty% in 1980.7 However, the share fell to 45% past 2015.

Currently, almost Americans exercise non experience threatened in their jobs, only many say jobs feel less secure than in the past and competitive threats come from several directions

There are somewhat paradoxical findings in the survey when it comes to problems related to job security. On the one mitt, American workers' confidence in their ain chore security is relatively high these days, peculiarly compared with the depression bespeak in the early 1980s. On the other hand, people believe there is less job security overall at present than in the past, and that more chore insecurity awaits tomorrow's workers.

Today, 60% of employed Americans say it is not at all probable that they will lose their job or be laid off in the next 12 months. An boosted 28% say it is not too likely. By comparison, in the midst of the 2001 recession, 52% believed information technology was not at all likely they would exist laid off.

Overall, 49% of American workers say they are very satisfied with their electric current job. Three-in-ten are somewhat satisfied, and the residue say they are somewhat dissatisfied (9%) or very dissatisfied (6%). The most satisfied workers tend to alive in college-income families and accept higher levels of pedagogy.

Yet, the survey identifies vulnerable workers. Those with lower levels of education are more likely to exist temporary workers or out of work altogether. They are besides more likely to believe their current skills are insufficient for career advancement and to think there are not enough good jobs locally. Furthermore, less educated workers are as well amid the most likely to say that their jobs are imperiled. For case, 39% of those without a loftier school education say information technology is very or adequately likely they may be laid off inside 12 months. By comparison, 7% of those with a bachelor'south degree or more education say the aforementioned.

Educational attainment is a clear and consistent marking when it comes to feelings virtually task security and future prospects. 1-in-five (20%) of those with a high school diploma or less believe it would be possible for their boss to apply technology to replace them – nearly double the rate of those with a bachelor'due south degree who say that. Roughly iv-in-x (38%) workers with no higher feel say they lack the pedagogy and training to get alee in their jobs, compared with 27% of those with a available'south degree who assert that.

More broadly, and despite the views of many that their current jobs are safe, a sizable number view the national job state of affairs as unstable at best. A majority of Americans (63%) believe jobs are less secure now than they were xx to xxx years agone, and about one-half (51%) conceptualize jobs will become less secure in the hereafter.

As they assess the factors that may be hurting U.S. workers, people say the greatest harms to American jobs are outsourcing (lxxx% believe outsourcing hurts American workers) and imports (77%). Many too cite the increased utilise of contract and temporary workers (57%) and the decline of marriage membership (49%) as harmful factors.

The touch on of immigrants and automation depict more evenly divided verdicts. Half of Americans (fifty%) think automation of jobs has injure workers, compared with 42% who think it has helped.

Some 45% of Americans believe the growing number of immigrants working in the U.S. has hurt workers overall, and 42% believe the immigrant influx has helped workers. There has been a substantial increase since 2006 in the share of Americans, especially amid Democrats, who believe the influx of immigrant workers has helped U.S. workers overall.

What's mostly helping workers? Big majorities remember exports and work-enhancing applied science such as the internet and email are aids to workers.

People say workers themselves have the well-nigh responsibleness for their chore readiness and K-12 schools are the adjacent in line; opinions diverge about the function of colleges, employers and governments

Americans call back the responsibility for preparing and succeeding in today's workforce starts with individuals themselves: 72% say "a lot" of responsibility should autumn on individuals, and 22% say "some" responsibility is theirs. Half-dozen-in-ten believe public K-12 schools should have a lot of responsibility, while 28% believe schools should bear some responsibility.

Later on that, views differ on the roles other entities should play, including some ambivalence most the purpose of colleges and universities. Among all adults, 52% say colleges should have a lot of responsibleness in making certain that the American workforce has the right skills and teaching to be successful, and 49% believe employers should have a lot of responsibility. After that, forty% assign a lot of responsibility to land governments, and 35% say the federal regime should assume a lot of responsibility.

Notably, people's views are linked to their partisan allegiances. Democrats and independents who lean Democratic are more probable than Republicans and Republican leaners to say public schools, colleges, and the federal and country governments should accept a lot of responsibility for making sure U.Southward. workers are prepared for today's jobs. Republicans and Republican leaners place more accent on individual responsibility.

Even as college graduates salute their experiences as positive, many practise not think colleges do a corking job preparing students for the workplace

Americans have somewhat mixed attitudes almost the effectiveness of traditional four-twelvemonth colleges and other higher education institutions. On a personal level, many college graduates describe their own educational experience equally having a generally positive impact on their personal and professional person evolution. Around six-in-ten (62%) college graduates with a two-twelvemonth or iv-year degree think their degree was very useful for helping them grow personally and intellectually, while roughly one-half remember it was very useful for opening upwardly job opportunities (53%), or for providing them with specific job-related skills and knowledge (49%).

Yet even every bit many college graduates view their own educational experience in positive terms, the public as a whole – including a substantial share of college graduates – expresses reservations about the ability of higher pedagogy institutions to prepare students for the workforce more more often than not.

Only 16% of Americans think that a four-year degree prepares students very well for a well-paying job in today'south economy. An additional 51% say colleges ready students somewhat well for the workplace. The verdict on two-year colleges is like: 12% call back that a two-year associate degree prepares students very well, and 46% say this type of degree prepares students somewhat well. When information technology comes to professional or technical certificates, 26% of adults say these prepare students very well for well-paying jobs and 52% say somewhat well. These findings necktie to previous Pew Research Center work showing that noteworthy majorities of adults remember colleges fail to provide students with good value for the money and that college is too expensive.

Relatively positive assessments of certificate programs as a style to prepare workers for jobs in today's economy are especially widespread among those who did not complete high school; 44% in this group say these types of programs ready people very well, compared with about a quarter (27%) of those with a loftier school diploma and a similar share of those with some college (22%), a two-year degree (28%), or a iv-year degree or more (22%).

Workers have mixed views on the extent to which their ain credentials and qualifications match up with the requirements of their job. Some 41% say they have more qualifications than their task requires, compared with 50% who think they have the correct amount of qualifications and 9% who say they are underqualified.

In improver, working Americans were asked if they thought someone with less pedagogy than they had could develop the skills and knowledge needed to do their task. A solid bulk (73%) say "aye." Amongst those with a bachelor'due south degree, 65% say someone with less pedagogy could learn to do their job, and the shares are significantly college amidst those with some college (82%) and those with a loftier school diploma (eighty%). Even then, job seekers take minimum requirements seriously. A third of those who do not have a four-year college degree accept elected not to apply for a task they felt they were qualified for considering information technology required a four-year degree, suggesting that employers may exist missing out on a pool of potential workers.

The economy is at the top of voters' minds

These findings nearly the state of work in America emerge in the midst of a national political campaign where voters think the economy is a top concern. A separate Pew Inquiry Center survey, conducted Sept. i to 4, 2016, among 1,004 adults nationwide, focused on major issues in the campaign. Offered a list of 5 cardinal issues and asked which one is the most of import to their vote for president, 37% of registered voters cite the economy, eighteen% choose health intendance, 14% say terrorism, 13% name immigration and 13% name gun policy.

Asked farther about a series of economical concerns, 43% of voters say the chore situation is either the well-nigh of import economic issue in determining their vote for president this year or the 2d most important. The aforementioned share say the federal budget deficit is either beginning or second among the factors driving their vote for president. An additional 38% of voters indicate to tax reform as the most or 2nd-virtually important economic issue influencing their vote for president, 32% cite income inequality, 22% say rising prices and 16% cite global trade.

Among registered voters, Republicans (43%) and Democrats (48%) are roughly equally likely to cite jobs as the first or second key economic issue driving their vote for president. They differ, however, in the importance of the budget deficit – Republicans are three times as probable as Democrats to rank this as a top issue (62% vs. xx%). Amidst independents, l% place loftier importance on the deficit. Republican voters likewise place more importance on revenue enhancement reform than practice Democrats (44% vs. 31% say information technology's the almost or second-most of import issue).

Democratic voters place much more importance on income inequality than do Republicans: 54% vs. 12%, respectively, rank this issue equally the most or 2nd-most important economic issue for them. Democrats are also more than likely than Republicans to say rising prices are an of import voting outcome (26% vs. 16%). In that location is no significant gap between Democrats and Republicans when it comes to the importance of global trade.

The remainder of this written report examines in greater item key trends in the labor market and how they are playing out in the lives of American workers. Chapter one includes an analysis of trends in job and wage growth by occupations with an accent on skills and preparation. It also looks at trends in employer-provided benefits, job tenure, hiring practices and alternative work arrangements. Chapter 2 looks at public assessments of the job situation – including how key characteristics of work have changed from a generation ago and what the future may look like, the extent to which megatrends in the economy are helping or hurting today's workers, who bears the greatest responsibleness for worker readiness these days, and which skills are most important in today's economy. Chapter 3 explores the views of workers themselves including chore satisfaction and fulfillment and feelings well-nigh chore security. Chapter 4 looks at the skills workers utilize in their own jobs, whether they experience properly equipped to do their jobs well, and where they would turn to increment their skills and gain additional training. And finally, Chapter 5 explores public views most the value of a college education.

Other key findings:

  • In 2015, i-in-iv workers (25%) in the U.S. had a job-related certificate or license, such as an it document or a teacher'southward license, according to new data from the U.S. Agency of Labor Statistics. The share is college amidst meliorate educated workers, running at 52% among workers with a postgraduate caste. Women (28%) are more than likely than men (23%) to have a certificate or license.
  • Young workers are earning significantly less than they did in 1980, but the opposite is happening with older workers. Amid full-time, twelvemonth-circular workers, the median earnings of 16- to 24-year-olds in 1980 were $28,131. By 2015 the median had fallen 11%, to only $25,000. Meanwhile, the median pay of workers 65 and older rose 37%, from $36,483 in 1980 to $50,000 in 2015. And workers ages 55 to 64 also earned 10% more in 2015 than they did in 1980. (Earnings data are in 2014 dollars.)
  • Americans are putting in more fourth dimension at piece of work. The average length of a workweek was 38.7 hours in 2015, slightly upwardly from 38.1 hours in 1980.8 Meanwhile, Americans are working more weeks per year. The average weeks worked per twelvemonth increased from 43 in 1980 to 46.viii in 2015. Combined, this adds up to an additional i month's worth of work in a year.
  • Job tenure has ticked upwards. In 2014, about one-half of workers (51%) had worked for their current employer v years or more, compared with 46% of workers who were in that position in 1996.
  • Workers are increasingly taking on a diversity of nontraditional jobs: Some work as contained contractors, some are employed through a contract firm and others are on-call workers or serve as temporary assist through an agency. Co-ordinate to experts,9 the share of U.Due south. workers with these alternative employment arrangements has gone up significantly in this century. Information technology's estimated that in 2015, 15.eight% of the U.Southward. workforce, or 24 million workers, is in these types of jobs.

In data based on the Electric current Population Survey, "employed" Americans are those who were at work in the week prior to the survey or who were temporarily absent from their task. In data based on the Current Employment Statistics survey, "employed" Americans are those who are on non-farm payrolls who received pay for any part of the pay period that includes the 12th twenty-four hours of the calendar month, including those on paid go out. Persons are counted in each job they hold. In data from the Pew Research Center surveys, "employed" Americans are those who say they work full or part time, unless otherwise noted. "In the labor strength" is used to depict those who are either employed or are unemployed merely are looking for work.

Employed respondents were asked how many jobs they have. If they said they have more than one, they were asked if they consider one to exist their primary job. Respondents who reported having more than i job and don't consider i to be their primary chore were not asked most subsequent questions near their electric current job. Those who said they have more than than one but consider i to be their primary job were asked to think about only their main task when answering questions about their current task. See topline questionnaire for details on how each question was filtered.

Throughout this study, "four-year degree" and "bachelor'southward degree" are used interchangeably. Similarly, "a bachelor'southward degree or more" and "at to the lowest degree a bachelor's caste" convey the same level of educational attainment. Unless otherwise noted, "some college" includes those with a two-yr degree or those who have attended college merely did non consummate a degree. "High school" refers to those who take attained a high school diploma or its equivalent, such as a General Instruction Development (GED) document.

References to whites, blacks and Asians include only those who are not-Hispanic, unless otherwise noted, and identify themselves equally simply one race. Hispanics are of any race. In Capacity 2 to 5, Asians are not analyzed separately due to small sample size.