Addressing the Skills Gap

KEY INFLUENCES ON THE SKILLS GAP

ASTD has been researching the skills gap for the past seven years. In 2009, ASTD research identified several underlying causes of the skills gap:

• economic conditions

• changing jobs

• Web 2.0 and the Net Generation

• gap between educational attainment and the need for skills.

The changing nature of jobs and lagging education have long contributed to creating and widening skills gaps in the United States. Now the large-scale loss of jobs during the recession that began in late 2007 also plays a role. The recession is the longest since World War II. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. economy had lost 4.2 million jobs by the end of 2009. The unemployment rate has hovered around 9.5 percent ...