However, students also need to take some personal responsibility, survey respondents say. A majority (72 percent) say students' failure to study the in-demand STEM fields is a factor responsible for the skills gap. Moreover, employees should continually update their skills for the changing work environment, 92 percent of the respondents say.

Employers are also to blame, the respondents say. The majority (69 percent) say that employers are failing to provide training; 63 percent say they are not offering apprenticeship programs; 61 percent say they are not communicating expectations to employees; and 58 percent say employers have unrealistic expectations of job candidates' skills.

The vast majority (92 percent) of respondents say that employers should do more to train workers in skills the employers require.

Governments also get their share of the blame: 54 percent of respondents say the skills gap is also caused by the failure of federal government to offer sufficient training programs, and 57 percent say the same for state and local governments. The majority (77 percent) say all levels of government should provide more incentives to businesses to offer training.

"The ASA Workforce Monitor findings support that there is no single cause nor solution to closing America's growing skills gap — blame for the root causes is shared, with individual accountability a key factor," says Richard Wahlquist, ASA president and chief executive officer. "People at all stages of their lives must commit to lifelong learning to maintain their future employability and ensure that the U.S. has the skilled workforce needed to sustain productivity-driven growth and competitiveness."

In a separate report, Boeing has hosted five job fairs this fall in its aim to fill hundreds of factory jobs next year — and "thousands in the coming years," as more baby boomers retire, according to the Everett Herald. In its recruitment efforts, Boeing is teaming up with 29 high schools as well as 24 community and technical colleges in Washington, including the Sno-Isle Tech Skills Center, a partnership with high schools in Snohomish and Island counties.

In its "Dive Insight" about the report, HRDive writes that the manufacturing industry is looking to apprenticeships and other training options, like partnerships with educators, to help close the anticipated skills gap so that more positions can be filled.

"Manufacturing also must deal with the fact that, because it largely skipped a generation, it will face an uphill battle to get the next generation interested in what it has to offer," HRDive writes. "In more creative efforts, stakeholders also are looking at ways to change their workplace cultures and considering how to rebrand manufacturing as a viable career option."

Meanwhile, the Society for Human Resource Management writes that good jobs for high school graduates still exist. The organization's blog cites a study conducted by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce in collaboration with JPMorgan Chase & Co., which found that there are currently 30 million U.S. jobs in the U.S. that do not require a bachelor's degree, but that pay well: a median annual salary of $55,000 and a minimum annual salary of $35,000.

"In the past, these good jobs were found almost entirely in manufacturing and other blue-collar industries like transportation and construction," says Anthony Carnevale, director of the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce and lead author of the report. "Today, new jobs [for workers without a four-year college degree] in skilled-services industries, such as health care, finance and information technology, have steadily been replacing good jobs lost in traditional blue-collar industries."