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The challenge of finding qualified employees

Nearly three quarters (73 percent) of U.S. companies expect an increase in their demand for "middle skills" jobs over the next few years and more than half (56 percent) are struggling to find people with the qualifications to fill existing vacancies.

By William Atkinson | Updated on December 15, 2014
Millions of job postings go unfilled even as people remain unemployed or underemployed

Nearly three quarters (73 percent) of U.S. companies expect an increase in their demand for “middle skills” jobs over the next few years, according to a recent report (November 2014), “Bridge the Gap: Rebuilding America’s Middle Skills,” published by Accenture, Burning Glass Technologies, and Harvard Business School. Middle skills jobs are defined as those that require more education and training than a high school diploma but less than a four-year college degree. More than half (56 percent) of those surveyed are struggling to find people with the qualifications to fill existing middle skills vacancies.

The research is the first to analyze the U.S.’s middle skills jobs market data with a focus on competitiveness. “This is the single most important issue to strength U.S. competitiveness, and bring back the American dream for our workers,” said Joe Fuller, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, and lead author of the report.

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