“Soft skills” are centrally important for human capital development and workforce success. A growing evidence base shows that these qualities rival academic or technical skills in their ability to predict employment and earnings, among other outcomes (Kautz, Heckman, Diris, ter Weel, & Borghans, 2014). As the workplace has modernized around the world, the demand for such skills has increased over the past 20 years (Balcar, 2014; Carnevale, 2013; Eger & Grossmann, 2004; International Labour Organization, 2008). Nevertheless, a soft skills “gap” is noted by many employers around the world, who report that job candidates lack the soft skills needed to fill available positions (Manpower Group, 2013).
Unfortunately, there is not a clear consensus about which soft skills are most critical for workforce success. Developing a common understanding is hampered by a lack of comparability in the constructs, definitions, and measures used to assess youth and monitor progress. This confusion obstructs knowledge development and guidance for future investments in youth workforce development programs. This white paper helps bring clarity to the field by recommending a research-based set of key soft skills that increase the chance that youth ages 15–29 will be successful in the workforce.
These recommendations emerge from a multi-faceted study that includes an extensive review of research as well as broad stakeholder input. The authors of this report reviewed more than 380 resources from around the world, including rigorous empirical studies, employer studies, and findings of international consensus projects. These resources examined the relationship between soft skills and key workforce outcomes, including employment, performance on the job, wages, and entrepreneurial success. In addition to the literature review, stakeholders, including researchers, youth workforce program implementers, employers, and youth themselves provided input on the importance of these skills based on their unique experiences.