Career Preparedness

Karoly, Lynn A., and Constantijn W.A. Panis. The 21st Century at Work: Forces Shaping the Future Workforce and Workplace in the United States.RAND Corporation, 2004 This comprehensive RAND study, prepared for the U.S. Department of Labor, addresses factors such as demographic trends, technological advances, and economic globalization. It also presents the implications of these future trends for key aspects of the future workforce and workplace, including the size, composition, and skills of the workforce; the nature of work and workplace arrangements; and worker compensation.

Are They Really Ready to Work? Employers" Perspectives on the Basic Knowledge and Applied Skills of New Entrants to the 21st Century U.S. Workforce.Partnership for 21st Century Skills, September 2006 Over 400 employers across the U.S. were surveyed to identify the skills needed to succeed in the workplace. The study concludes that new entrants to the workforce need not only the basic skills such as reading, writing, and math, but also applied skills related to the workplace–most specifically professionalism, teamwork, and oral communication skills–and that significant deficiencies exist among young entrants at every level.

Help Wanted: A Report on the Skills Gap in the American Workforce.The Public Forum Institute, January 2002 This report addresses the "skills gap," or the fundamental disconnect between how schools prepare students for work and the skills today"s workforce actually requires of employees. It also acknowledges critical workforce shortages in areas such as healthcare, education, information technology, and manufacturing despite challenging economic conditions and rising unemployment.

Barton, Paul E. High School Reform and Work: Facing Labor Market Realities.ETS, June 2006 This report describes how the occupational structure has changed over the past several decades, the rising levels of education among workers, projections of career fields over the upcoming decades, and the levels of education needed for the workforce of the future. It also considers the skills and knowledge that will be required for high school graduates without a college eduction to secure employment.