A quality job is hard to find these days. That’s according to a new study by Gallup, which reports that career advancement is a major issue for many Americans.
“Feeling like you have a path, or at least an opportunity for advancement, is really important to how you view your job and how you feel about it, and how you show up to work each day,” said Molly Blankenship, director of the strategy and impact team at Jobs for the Future.
She said Gallup’s American Job Quality Study surveyed more than 18,000 workers across the nation and found that one in four American employees reported that they lacked opportunities for career advancement at their jobs and over 60% said they do not have a quality job.
“A quality job goes beyond just paying benefits. It’s also about having the chance to grow, to learn, to do new things,” Blankenship said.
She said that opportunities to learn and build skills while on the job help employees stay competitive, but not all workers in the U.S. have access to these opportunities.
The survey found that larger organizations are more likely to report having advancement opportunities. Only one in three employees at organizations with less than 10 employees said learning opportunities exist compared with nearly three in four at organizations with 1,000 or more employees.
“The majority of on-the-job training that’s happening in workplaces is actually going to those workers who already have the most formal education or are working in large employers,” Blankenship said. “The top line results are really sobering.”
Her hope for the study on future opportunities?
“That this creates or exposes a wider menu of options for what businesses can do to support their workforce in ways that don’t just benefit the worker, but ultimately benefit their bottom lines with a stronger, more stable, more productive and more satisfied workforce,” she said.
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