U.S. employers continue to value higher education, but they say that recent college graduates still need significant training or skills development to perform their roles effectively, according to a 2026 survey from Gallup and the Lumina Foundation.

Gallup surveyed 2,000 U.S. employers responsible for making hiring decisions for their organizations, and the results consistently found that American employers value post-secondary education. Pursuing those degrees helps people achieve better career outcomes, even as many Americans balk at the cost and accessibility of higher education, according to the report, Aligning Education and Work: What Employers Say Higher Education Must Deliver.

Nearly half of employers (48 percent) said that most jobs at their organization require a college degree to be successful, and three-quarters of employers said a college degree will be as or more important five years from now to get a good job at their organization. Even in roles that don’t require a college degree, about three-quarters of employers say they would prefer to hire someone with either an associate or bachelor’s degree.

But a degree is not an automatic guarantee of a role, and it does not mean that employers will get exactly the skills they need.

Only 54 percent of employers said U.S. colleges and universities are graduating students with the skills their businesses need, the report found, and 56 percent of employers said it is difficult to find candidates with the right skills. Nearly 70 percent of employers said that recent college graduates hired in the past 12 months needed a moderate to a great deal of additional training or skills development to perform effectively in their roles.

“The biggest gap we see is in real-world, hands-on experience,” says B. Jaye Burchfiel, vice president of people and policy at MyComputerCareer, an IT career advancement and training organization. “Candidates may understand the concepts but often struggle to think critically or adapt when something doesn’t go as planned.

“In interviews, that shows up quickly,” she continues. “Employers want candidates who can point to real examples—how they approached a problem, how they adjusted when things changed and how they communicated along the way.”

But some of those missing skills are inevitably soft or interpersonal skills.

“The ability to work productively with teammates is very much in demand,” says Kathy Lavinder, founder of physical and information security candidate search firm SI Placement. “Some early career employees have to learn to accept the give and take and ego management associated with teamwork. The post-COVID cohort, generally speaking, is more accustomed to distributed teams and less face-to-face interaction.

“I’ve heard from certain clients that some early career employees are generally less engaged and want to work on their terms, not necessarily what employers want to see,” Lavinder continues. “I’m not sure how educators can address that except to directly communicate that employers get to set the terms, not junior employees.”

The Gallup employer survey met a mismatch with students’ expectations. A separate 2026 Lumina Foundation-Gallup study about the state of higher education (The College Reality Check: What Students Experience vs. What America Believes) found that 93 percent of current bachelor’s and 89 percent of current associate degree students are confident their school is teaching them the skills they need to get the job they want.

Graduates’ experiences affirm those expectations, with three-quarters of college graduates saying their degree was critical or important to achieving their career goals.

“It starts with initiative,” Burchfiel says. “Get hands-on experience wherever possible—through internships, apprenticeships or self-directed learning. Stay current on the skills required for your field and be intentional about building them.”

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