STARs in low- and middle-wage jobs have relevant skills for higher-paying positions.

It is a common assumption that fewer or lower-level skills are required in lower-wage jobs than in higher-wage occupations. However, by studying STARs and the Bureau of Labor Statistics O*NET database, we found that assumption to be untrue. When we compared the skills STARs use in their current roles to the skills needed for higher-wage positions, we found enormous overlap.

Skills Similarities between Two Jobs

This figure illustrates the skill similarity between two jobs that pay different wages. The overlap of skills between the low-wage job on the left (paying less than $37,500) and the middle-wage job on the right (paying between $37,500-$77,000) is significant. These two jobs are not the only such pairing. We found at least one possible skills-based transition from their current jobs to a higher-wage job for every one of the 71 million STARs.

There are many alternative routes to gain skills.

The most commonly recognized pathway to high-wage work is a four-year college degree. This pathway is an important one for millions of workers. However, it is not the only route for workers to build critical skills. Our analysis focuses on on-the-job learning, or work experience, as an alternative route to build valuable skills. And there are many others. Here are a few examples of alternative routes:

STARs are at different places in their professional journeys. Our analysis shows meaningfully different trajectories for STARs to earn higher wages.

We segmented the STARs population into three groups based on their skills-readiness for higher-wage work. Each segment needs different types of investment and support to transition to higher-paying work, but all have the skills to perform a different role for at least 10% more in wages using the skills they have in their current role. Click on the tabs below to discover more on each segment.

STARs face an opportunity gap in today’s broken labor market.

Unleashing STARs’ talent could have transformative effects for our economy and greatly improve the prospects for millions of workers in America.

The fact that 16 million STARs are positioned for high-wage work but only 5 million are able to access it demonstrates that job mobility in the U.S. labor market is not what it should be. The reasons for this inefficiency include global forces such as industry consolidation and technological change, as well as employer hiring practices like increasing degree requirements in job postings. In addition, STARs face routine barriers to entry, such as poor access to transportation and lack of social networks that lead to jobs. To this point, LinkedIn research shows that applicants who are referred to a job by a current employee are nine times more likely to get hired. Further, degree holders are 3 times more likely to have a strong network than STARs in the U.S.

These barriers create an opportunity gap that keeps STARs from being able to work, learn and earn to their full potential.

Calls to action

There is potential in this talent pool.

While there are promising efforts to touch the STARs population, we, the workforce development ecosystem, need to learn faster and expand our focus from several thousand workers to tens of millions in the coming years. Corporate leaders, workforce development leaders, the analyst community and STARs all have a role to play.