1. SHRM Survey Findings:
Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce
In collaboration with and commissioned by Achieve
October 3, 2012

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

3. Key Findings
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 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%).
SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce
©SHRM 2012

4. 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.
SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce
©SHRM 2012

5. 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.
SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce
©SHRM 2012

6. 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
SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce
©SHRM 2012

7. 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
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

8. 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
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

9. 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
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

10. 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
SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce
©SHRM 2012

11. 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
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

12. 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
SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce
©SHRM 2012

13. 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
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

14. Did your organization have any job openings in 2011?
Note: Percentages represent respondents who answered “yes”.
SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce
©SHRM 2012

15. Of your organization’s job openings in 2011, what percentage of the positions:
All Industries
(n = 3,525)
Construction, Mining, Oil and Gas
(n = 360)
Federal Government
(n = 205)
Finance
(n = 380)
Health
(n = 456)
High-tech
(n = 335)
Manufac-turing
(n = 435)
Non-professional Services
(n = 254)
Professional Services
(n = 525)
State/Local Government
(n = 575)
Had no minimum education requirements? 8%
19% 7% 3%
12%
21% 5%
Required a high school diploma or equivalent only?
36%
33%
30%
52%
15%
47%
44%
45%
Required a specific postsecondary certificate/ credential(s) only?
10% 9% 4% 6%
Required an associate’s degree?
13%
Required a bachelor’s degree?
31%
35%
34%
27%
65%
29%
22%
51%
Required an advanced degree (e.g., master’s, Ph.D., M.D., JD.)? 2%
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 Workforce
©SHRM 2012

16. 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?
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.
SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce
©SHRM 2012

17. Of those newly hired employees who had higher than a high school diploma or equivalent, what percentage have had the following education credentials?
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/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce
©SHRM 2012

18. Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements
SHRM Survey Findings:
Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements
In collaboration with and commissioned by Achieve
Survey Methodology
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
SHRM/Achieve Survey: Changing Employee Skills and Education Requirements—Education Levels of Today’s Workforce ©SHRM 2012

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