Skill Gaps, Skill Shortages and Skill Mismatches: Evidence for the US

NBER Working Paper No. 20382

Issued in August 2014

NBER Program(s):Economics of Education, Labor Studies



Concerns that there are problems with the supply of skills, especially education-related skills, in the US labor force have exploded in recent years with a series of reports from employer-associated organizations but also from independent and even government sources making similar claims. These complaints about skills are driving much of the debate around labor force and education policy, yet they have not been examined carefully. The discussion below examines the range of these charges as well as other evidence about skills in the labor force. There is very little evidence consistent with the complaints about skills and a wide range of evidence suggesting that they are not true. Indeed, a reasonable conclusion is that over-education remains the persistent and even growing situation of the US labor force with respect to skills. I consider three possible explanations for the employer complaints as well as the implications associated with those changes.

Acknowledgments

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Document Object Identifier (DOI): 10.3386/w20382

Published: Peter H. Cappelli, 2015. "Skill Gaps, Skill Shortages, and Skill Mismatches," ILR Review, vol 68(2), pages 251-290.

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