• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

InFront on the Workforce

Long-term and post-acute care publication

Subscribe | Events | Advertise | Contact Us

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

  • HOME
  • ABOUT
    • Who We Are & What We Do
    • The Vision
    • Readership
  • RESOURCES
    • Important Links
  • Retention & Engagement
  • Culture & Leadership
  • Regulatory
  • Technology
  • Industry Trends

Study: Skills Gap Grows as Employers Scramble for Qualified Workers

By Joanne Kaldy / September 16, 2019

Companies can’t find the right talent with the right skills at the right time; and it’s hurting growth and innovation.

Rapidly changing technology and lack of qualified job candidates have led the skills gap to jump from 52% in 2018 to 64% in 2019, according to a new report, “Closing the Skills Gap 2019.” Nearly half (44%) of employers surveyed say that it is more difficult than ever to fill the skills gap, and 42% say it makes their company less efficient.

Among other findings in the report:

  • 37% of employers cite rapid tech changes as the most predominant cause of skills gaps, followed by the lack of skilled talent able to move into positions with greater responsibility (31%) and lack of qualified candidates (30%).
  • Nearly half (40%) of survey respondents say that a skill is only usable for four years or less. Obsolescence increases the need for employers to hire or upskill workers as gaps appear or widen.
  • While 68% of employers say they use a degree to validate hard skills, 90% say they would hire someone without a four-year college degree if they can demonstrate the ability to do the job.
  • Over half (52%) of employers say they use tuition reimbursement for upskilling, and 88% cover at least part of upskilling costs.
  • While 68% of employers say they communicate the value of upskilling, only 48% spend more than $500 per employee annually on upskilling/continuing education.
  • Nearly two-thirds (64%) of employers say they have collaborated with schools in the past three years to encourage curriculum that is more responsive to workforce needs. This represents a 14% increase over 2018.
  • Over half (61%) of employers say they often offer jobs to military veterans, and 46% frequently offer positions to non-Americans.
  • Nearly half (40%) of employers say they prefer to invest in artificial intelligence than upskilling, an 11% increase over last year. Nearly half say they would rather hire gig workers than full-time staffers, up from 38% in 2018.

“The skills gap continues to get wider with more than seven million unfilled jobs in America. Companies can’t find the right talent with the right skills at the right time; and it’s preventing them from growth,” said Dan Schawbel, research director at Future Workplace and one of the study’s authors. As a result, he said, while employers “might have had a singular focus on a specific type of candidate in the past, that’s changed out of necessity. They are open to hiring candidates, such as retirees and veterans, because it expands their talent pool.”

Related Posts

  • (11/14) Skills Gap Fallout Lands with HR – SHRM
  • (6/12) Workers Say Employers Need to Improve Development Efforts
  • Study: More Employers Exercise Well-Being to Keep Workers Healthy
  • Survey: More Employers Offering Health Benefits To Attract Workers
  • Report: Workers Want, Need Tech Skills But Often Lack Training

Categories: Trends in the Industry / Tags: Featured

Primary Sidebar

AROUND THE WEB

Items of interest from across the web.

  • As More States Are Legalizing Marijuana, How Should Employers Respond – HR Executive
  • Giving Thanks for Senior Living Employees, Leaders — McKnights
  • 22 States Petition CMS to End Mandate As 76% of SNF Staff Behind on Vaccines – Skilled Nursing News
  • 6 Ways to Re-energize a Depleted Team – Harvard Business Review
  • 7 Ways to Lift Up the Employees’ Morale Ahead of Holiday Season — Entrepreneur
  • Workforce, Financial Relief Focus in ‘Tumultuous Period’ After Midterms: Argentum – McKnights
  • 6 Steps to Creating More Inclusive Job Descriptions – HR Morning
  • Mental Wellbeing and Resilience: Tech + Culture to the Rescue – HR Daily Advisor
  • Employers Have ‘Flexibility Fatigue.’ But That Could Put Them on the Wrong Side of the ADA. – HR Dive(11/16) Employers Must Push Preventive Care to Inflation-Worried Staff – TLNT

View All

CONTACT INFO

Publisher: CC Andrews
440.638.6990
Editor: Joanne Kaldy

PO Box 360727
Cleveland, OH 44136

CATEGORIES

  • CULTURE & LEADERSHIP
  • RETENTION & ENGAGEMENT
  • REGULATORY
  • TECHNOLOGY
  • TRENDS IN THE INDUSTRY

Copyright © 2023 - InFrontWorkforce.com. All rights reserved.