“Reskilling” and “upskilling” are common buzzwords in discussions of career and technical training. These terms refer to imparting new skills to workers, enabling them to take on enhanced roles and responsibilities and enabling their employers to better face changing demands for goods and services. Given our dynamic economy, it’s not surprising that interest in improving the skills of workers is increasing. A Google Ngram search (Fig. 1) shows that the use of “reskilling” has skyrocketed.

Figure 1. Frequency of “Reskilling” Use in Published Print Media

While national attention to the need for re- and upskilling is ubiquitous, what do workers think? Do they believe their skills are appropriate for the jobs they do? Or, do they feel their skills are mismatched with their current positions?

In December, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) released the most recent data from its Programme for the Assessment of Adult Competences (PIAAC). The survey was conducted in 31 countries, including the United States. In each country, PIAAC draws on a nationally representative sample of adults ages 16–65. The US national report and data can be found here.

I focus on responses to the following question in the PIAAC survey of adult skills: “Overall, which of the following statements best describes your skills in relation to what is required to do your job?” Of the 3,758 American PIAAC respondents, close to 2,600 answered that question. There were three responses of interest: my skills are higher, my skills match, or my skills are lower than what is required by my job.

Figure 2 shows that fewer than 10 percent believe their skills are lower than what they need to do their jobs. In contrast, most of American workers think their skills match their jobs, leaving 39 percent of workers who regard themselves as overskilled for their jobs.

Figure 2. Do Workers Think Their Skills Match Their Jobs?

In the next two figures, I examine more closely this swath of the workforce who say they are already overskilled for their jobs to see how education and chosen field of study contribute to the overskilling phenomenon.

Figure 3 illustrates that workers with some post-secondary education and those who completed a bachelor’s degree have the greatest mismatch in which they feel their skills exceed what is required by their jobs.

Figure 3. Respondents Who Answered “My skills are higher than required by my job,” By Education Level

Figure 4 shows the percentage of overskilled workers by their field of study. Half of journalism majors feel overqualified for their jobs (given the collapse of hiring in that field, perhaps that is no surprise). The largest combined field of postsecondary study in the US is liberal arts, general studies, and humanities. However, general education and humanities are among the fields of study with the highest percentage of workers who feel their skills are higher than their jobs demand. Health professions and business are the second- and third- largest fields of postsecondary study, and many workers with training in these fields—well over a third—also feel their skills exceed their jobs’ demands. The fields with the lowest percentage of workers who feel overskilled (construction, welfare, community service) are also the smallest.

Figure 4. Respondents Who Answered “My skills are higher than my job,” by Field of Study

What do these data tell us about workforce training?

First, only around 10 percent of American workers think their skills are lacking relative to their jobs: this small minority of workers may be the clearest candidates for upskilling.

Second, half of American workers think their skill set is already fit for their jobs. But as skills needed in the workplace change, especially thanks to AI, that number might shrink. Schools and employers must adapt their training to avoid this.

What of the 40 percent who say their skills already exceed what their jobs require? According to David Graeber, as many as half the jobs in the modern economy are “Bullshit Jobs,” pointless or even harmful to the people who hold them. Unsurprisingly, that hypothesis has engendered much controversy. While PIAAC can’t tell us how many overskilled employees are in such jobs, the data do show that many US workers feel their skills are not needed or used.  

Combine the possibility of so many “bullshit jobs” with a growing emphasis in postsecondary institutions on “21st century skills” (including such things as media literacy, digital literacy, and global awareness) that have little relevance to most jobs, and we can see why so many workers today feel their skills go unused.

These PIAAC results highlight a challenge: as the US economy continues to change, American education—from higher education to workforce training—must also change, improving the skills of workers and replacing nebulous knowledge like “global awareness” with skills that fit the jobs of today and tomorrow