About 60 percent of job openings require basic science, technology, engineering, and math literacy, and 42 percent require advanced STEM skills, according to a new survey of 126 chief executive officers.
The Washington-based groups Change the Equation and the Business Roundtable surveyed business leaders’ perceptions of workers’ skills. The report indicates that 46 percent of respondents said “skills shortages” are “somewhat problematic,” and 52 percent said they are “problematic” or “very problematic.” The gap between the skills that employers are looking for and those that job seekers possess was not STEM specific.