sKILLS gAP:Who? What? Why?

The skills gap has provided an extreme and devastating impact regionally, nationally, and globally. The figure below highlights specific concerns within Western New York, the United States, and the World as a whole. 

What is the skills gap?

"There has always been a gap between what colleges produce and what employers want...but now it's widening. Employers are under pressure to do more with less"
(Mara Swan, Executive Vice President of Global Strategy and Talent at Manpower Group, What It Takes to Make New College Graduates Employable)

A global study conducted last year, consisting of 25,000 employers, reported that nine out of ten employees felt that colleges were not adequately preparing students for a workplace situation. The article What It Takes to Make New College Graduates Employable (2013) reports that the most common lacking skills include:

• Written Skills
• Oral Communication Skills
• Adaptability
• Managing Multiple Priorities
• Making decisions
• Problem solving (taken from The Chronicle of Higher Education and American Public Media's Marketplace, March 2013)

"College graduates have the 'basic substantive' skills necessary for employment...specific 'life' skills are missing from newly minted graduates. Time management, follow-up, leadership skills, prior work experience, ability to write and social perceptiveness were cited as life skills that new graduates lack."
(Connecting Higher Education and the Region's Growing Industries, 2011)

"Young employees 'are very good at finding information, but not as good as putting that information into context...they're really good at technology, but not at how to take those skills and resolve specific business problems'"
(Jamie S. Fall, vice president at the HR policy Association, What It Takes to Make New College Graduates Employable)

Why do we have a Skills Gap?

The "blame" for the current skills gap does not fall solely on one sphere. There are multiple factors contributing to the current skills gap, which vary depending on the perspective of both the inquiring and informing parties. However, a general consensus can be made. Based on reported findings, the field of education, general societal advances, as well as the economy and government have played a major role in the mismatch of skills-resulting in the skills gap epidemic. 

Fixing the Gap

There are multiple sources from various disciplines that identify how they feel it is best to address and "fix the gap." Click Here for a variety of sources providing information and links to specific articles focusing on "fixing the gap."

Click the Links Below for More Information

Skills Gap Homepage

Who? What? Why?

The Skills

Resources