Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce

SHRM Survey Findings: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce

October 3, 2012

In collaboration with and commissioned by Achieve

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• This is the second part of a series of SHRM/Achieve survey findings titled “Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements.” These results look at the education levels of today’s workforce.

• The following nine industries were included in the sample. Overall results are reported first, followed by industry-specific results for the following industries:

Construction, mining, oil and gas

Federal government

Finance

Health

High-tech

Manufacturing

Professional services

State and local government

Nonprofessional services

Introduction

SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce

©SHRM 2012

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• Are jobs being filled by people with more educational qualifications than are actually required by their positions? To some extent, yes. Overall, organizations across all industries report that most jobs are held by individuals with educational credentials closely matched to those required by the job. Slightly more individuals possess additional educational credentials than what is needed for jobs with no minimum education requirements, as well as for jobs requiring an advanced degree.

• What industries have the highest percentage of advanced degree holders? Professional

services (20%), the federal government (16%), high-tech (15%) and health (13%) industries have the greatest percentage of employees who hold advanced degrees (e.g., master’s, MBA, Ph.D., M.D., J.D.).

• Did most industries have job openings in 2011? Yes, almost all organizations—96% overall—

said they had job openings in 2011. The top industries hiring were health (99%), finance (97%) and high-tech (97%).

• Were there industries that had jobs available in 2011 with no minimum education

requirements? A few industries do still offer a few jobs with no minimum education requirements: nonprofessional services (21%), construction, mining, oil and gas (19%), and manufacturing (12%). However, in all other industries, fewer than 10% of job openings in 2011 had no minimum educational requirements (see slide 15).

• How often are newly hired employees’ educational credentials actually higher than the minimum education listed in the job announcement? Across industries, more than one-half (53%) say this occurs at least some of the time for jobs that require a minimum of a high school diploma, and 30% say this happens most of the time. Industries that are most likely to say that most or all of the time newly hired employees’ educational credentials are actually higher than the minimum education listed in the job announcement were high-tech (48%), professional services (46%) and the federal government (41%).

Key Findings


©SHRM 2012

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What percentage of your organization’s positions that are currently filled require the following education credentials? What percentage of your organization’s current full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) actually possess these educational credentials? All Industries

Note: Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding.

No minimum education requirementsLess than high school diploma

High school diploma or equivalent only

Specific postsecondary certificate/credential(s) only

Associate’s degree

Bachelor’s degree

Advanced degree (e.g., master's, MBA, Ph.D., M.D., J.D.)

8%

35%

8%

7%

33%

8%

4%

34%

8%

9%

34%

11%

Actually Possessed by Current FTEs(n = 3,707)

Required in Currently Filled Positions(n = 4,174)


©SHRM 2012

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What percentage of your organization’s positions that are currently filled require the following education credentials? What percentage of your organization’s current full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) actually possess these educational credentials? Construction, Mining, Oil and Gas

Note: Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.





Bachelor’s degree


20%

32%

9%

6%

29%

3%

10%

38%

9%

8%

29%

5%

Actually Possessed by Current FTEs(n = 386)

Required in Currently Filled Positions(n = 424)


©SHRM 2012

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What percentage of your organization’s positions that are currently filled require the following education credentials? What percentage of your organization’s current full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) actually possess these educational credentials? Federal Government





Bachelor’s degree


10%

33%

8%

7%

31%

11%

2%

31%

8%

10%

33%

16%




©SHRM 2012

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What percentage of your organization’s positions that are currently filled require the following education credentials? What percentage of your organization’s current full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) actually possess these educational credentials? Finance





Bachelor’s degree


4%

47%

4%

6%

35%

5%

1%

41%

5%

9%

34%

9%



Note: Percentages do not total 100% due to rounding.SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s

Workforce©SHRM 2012

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What percentage of your organization’s positions that are currently filled require the following education credentials? What percentage of your organization’s current full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) actually possess these educational credentials? Health





Bachelor’s degree


4%

31%

14%

14%

26%

11%

3%

31%

13%

14%

27%

13%





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What percentage of your organization’s positions that are currently filled require the following education credentials? What percentage of your organization’s current full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) actually possess these educational credentials? High-tech





Bachelor’s degree


4%

18%

6%

7%

57%

9%

1%

15%

5%

8%

55%

15%





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What percentage of your organization’s positions that are currently filled require the following education credentials? What percentage of your organization’s current full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) actually possess these educational credentials? Manufacturing





Bachelor’s degree


14%

47%

6%

6%

24%

3%

9%

51%

6%

7%

22%

5%




©SHRM 2012

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What percentage of your organization’s positions that are currently filled require the following education credentials? What percentage of your organization’s current full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) actually possess these educational credentials? Nonprofessional Services





Bachelor’s degree


18%

44%

7%

5%

24%

3%

10%

44%

7%

7%

26%

5%

Actually Possessed by Current FTE's(n = 272)

Requireed in Currently Filled Positions(n = 319)



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What percentage of your organization’s positions that are currently filled require the following education credentials? What percentage of your organization’s current full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) actually possess these educational credentials? Professional Services





Bachelor’s degree


3%

22%

7%

6%

47%

15%

1%

20%

6%

7%

46%

20%

Actually Possessed by Current FTE's(n = 563)



©SHRM 2012

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What percentage of your organization’s positions that are currently filled require the following education credentials? What percentage of your organization’s current full-time equivalent employees (FTEs) actually possess these educational credentials? State/Local Government





Bachelor’s degree


5%

43%

10%

8%

27%

6%

3%

38%

10%

10%

29%

9%





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Did your organization have any job openings in 2011?

All industries (n = 3,893)

Health (n = 495)

Finance (n = 425)

High-tech (n = 372)

Manufacturing (n = 473)

Construction, mining, oil and gas (n = 394)

Nonprofessional services (n = 286)

Professional services (n = 575)

State/local government (n = 643)

Federal government (n = 230)

96%

99%

97%

97%

96%

95%

95%

95%

95%

93%

Note: Percentages represent respondents who answered “yes”.


©SHRM 2012

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All Industri

es(n =

3,525)

Construction, Mining, Oil and Gas(n = 360)

Federal Governme

nt(n = 205)

Finance(n = 380)

Health(n = 456)

High-tech(n = 335)

Manufac-turing

(n = 435)

Non-profession

al Services(n = 254)

Professional

Services(n = 525)

State/Local

Government

(n = 575)

Had no minimum education requirements?

8% 19% 7% 3% 3% 3% 12% 21% 3% 5%

Required a high school diploma or equivalent only?

36% 33% 30% 52% 33% 15% 47% 44% 21% 45%

Required a specific postsecondary certificate/ credential(s) only?

8% 10% 9% 3% 15% 5% 4% 5% 6% 10%

Required an associate’s degree?

6% 5% 6% 4% 13% 6% 5% 5% 6% 7%

Required a bachelor’s degree?

36% 31% 35% 34% 27% 65% 29% 22% 51% 29%

Required an advanced degree (e.g., master’s, Ph.D., M.D., JD.)?

7% 2% 13% 3% 10% 8% 2% 2% 13% 5%

Of your organization’s job openings in 2011, what percentage of the positions:

Note: Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding. Only respondents whose organizations had job openings in 2011 were asked this question. SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s


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Note: Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding. Respondents who answered “Not sure” or “Not applicable” were excluded from this analysis. Industries are sorted in descending order by the “Most of the time” response option.

For current job openings that require a minimum of a high school diploma or equivalent, how often are the newly hired employees’ educational credentials actually higher than the minimum education listed in the job announcement?


High-tech (n = 283)



Finance (n = 369)




Health (n = 455)


2%

1%

2%

0%

2%

2%

3%

3%

2%

3%

12%

5%

7%

9%

7%

10%

17%

17%

14%

23%

53%

46%

45%

49%

54%

54%

53%

54%

61%

57%

30%

44%

41%

37%

36%

32%

26%

23%

21%

14%

3%

4%

5%

4%

2%

2%

2%

3%

2%

2%

Never Rarely Some of the time Most of the time Always


©SHRM 2012

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Of those newly hired employees who had higher than a high school diploma or equivalent, what percentage have had the following education credentials?


Finance (n = 324)

High-tech (n = 251)





Health (n = 405)



28%

15%

17%

20%

22%

28%

32%

33%

40%

40%

28%

30%

30%

24%

27%

30%

28%

30%

26%

29%

39%

50%

47%

49%

41%

37%

36%

32%

31%

29%

5%

5%

6%

7%

10%

6%

3%

6%

3%

3%

Specific postsecondary certificate/credential(s) only Associate’s degree Bachelor’s degree


Note: Percentages may not total 100% due to rounding. Industries are sorted in descending order by the “Specific postsecondary certificate/credential(s) only” response option.


©SHRM 2012

Survey Methodology

SHRM Survey Findings: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements

In collaboration with and commissioned by Achieve

• Response rate = 18%

• 4,695 HR professional respondents from a randomly selected sample of nine different industries in SHRM’s membership

Construction, mining, oil and gas = 491

Federal government = 356

Finance = 530

Health = 526

High-tech = 447

• Margin of error +/-1%

• Survey fielded March 28-April 30, 2012

Manufacturing = 526

Professional services = 492

State and local government = 848

Non-professional services = 479

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SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce ©SHRM 2012

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SHRM Survey Findings: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements

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