On the heels of a mostly positive jobs report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) (4.6% unemployment is the lowest it’s been in nine years), the McKinsey Global Institute (MGI) released a more sobering snapshot of the world of work.

A briefing by MGI director James Manyika, compiled from the company’s extensive research, took a deeper dive into employment numbers. He writes:

In the United States and the 15 core European Union countries (E.U.-15), there are 285 million adults who are not in the labor force—and at least 100 million of them would like to work more. Some 30% to 45% of the working-age population around the world is underutilized—that is, unemployed, inactive, or underemployed. This translates into some 850 million people in the U.S., the U.K., Germany, Japan, Brazil, China, and India alone.

Manyika says that unemployment figures typically get the most attention at the expense of those who are underemployed. Indeed, the latest figures from the BLS indicate that the labor force participation rate (a combined total of those who are either working or actively seeking work) is just over 62%, which represents a steady decline since 2000. Parsing the meaning of this decrease is complicated, yet it is often referred to in the broadest sense as proof that the labor market is shrinking due to a variety of factors. The result, regardless of the cause, is a lot of “untapped human potential,” according to Manyika.

This has serious economic consequences that affect every country. Wage stagnation has affected advanced economies despite increases in productivity. The brief also states that globally, 655 million fewer women are economically active than men. In a previous report, MGI revealed that advancing women’s equality could add $12 trillion to the global GDP by 2025.

Why is this happening? The MGI brief offers several reasons, including the fact that education hasn’t keep pace with the skills needed for a changing workforce.

McKinsey research found as many as 40% of employers in nine countries said lack of skills was the main reason for entry-level job vacancies. Sixty percent of them said that new graduates were not adequately prepared to work. They cited the lack of both technical and soft skills such as communication, teamwork, and punctuality as reasons they couldn’t fill open positions. A survey conducted by PayScale reached a similar conclusion. Chief among the complaints by hiring managers were that communication, leadership, ownership, and teamwork were missing in this new crop of workers.

The brief also found that cross-border migration has a somewhat negative impact on the labor force. Manyika writes, “Migration boosts global productivity, but its consequences are often feared by native workers, who face labor market disconnects and a lack of well-paid jobs.” He also notes that in the midst of such challenging labor market conditions, “popular sentiment has moved against immigration.”