Mapping the modern workforce: An overview of workforce competency demands

Abstract

An understanding of the demands of the contemporary world of work may help guide policy- and decision-making processes. However, despite the importance of this understanding, few studies have attempted to examine the universe of available occupations to determine the most in-demand knowledge, skills, abilities, and other worker characteristics (KSAOs) as well as the relative demands of these KSAOs across occupations. This study addresses the first concern by calculating weighted averages that rely on the Occupational Information Network's (O*NET's) data on worker requirements and characteristics and the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS’) employment counts. Furthermore, this study leverages the power of latent profile analyses to identify numerous workplace profiles, allowing us to uncover the extent to which KSAOs are demanded in relation to each other. Key findings suggest that the competencies relating to communication, business, technology, and cognition were among the most highly demanded KSAOs in the labor market. Additionally, identified KSAO profiles indicated that the rank ordering of KSAO level requirements differed across large sections of the labor market, indicating that the rank orderings proposed by the weighted averages were not consistent across the occupations examined. In sum, the findings of this study provide vital occupational information that contributes to our understanding of the KSAOs that are expected from the prospective workforce. In the context of career guidance, such information may assist career counselors and other guidance professionals in describing the world of work to their clients, thereby empowering them to make more educated career development choices that will improve their employability within the extant labor market.