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Kenan Institute 2025 Grand Challenge: Skills Gap
Research • Insight • Growth

Why Does the Skills Gap Matter?

The overall skill level in a workforce determines the tasks that workforce can competently perform. As such, it’s directly linked to economic productivity; not only do you need these skills to foster innovation, but the impact of any innovation or technological progress will be severely limited if the workforce lacks the skills to properly use it.


Gerald Cohen

Chief Economist, Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise

Is the Gap Really Growing Wider?

Do you believe there is a gap in the skills your organization needs and what your employees possess right now?

Expanding Skills Gap

Source: “Market Insights by Wiley: Closing the Skills Gap 2023″

It’s difficult to measure the level of skills in the workforce, which makes it challenging to determine whether there’s a skills gap and whether it’s growing. One method of measurement uses employer-level survey data to assess whether employers can hire workers with the skills they need to perform a given job. The 2023 Wiley survey illustrated here points toward an expanding gap.

The Effect of the ‘Silver Tsunami’

Demographic mix influences the country’s labor pool and its intrinsic skills. With the baby boomer generation moving into retirement, the US labor force participation rate has dropped, leaving employers with a shrinking pool of workers from which to draw the new skills they need.

Working Age Population

% of Total Population

Silver Tsunami

Shaded areas represent recessions as determined by the National Bureau of Economic Research
Source: Census Bureau

One Path Toward Bridging the Gap

Bridging The Skills Gap

Financing constraints can hinder individuals who want to add or upgrade skills to take advantage of a changing job market. Skills-based training through earn-and-learn programs paid for by employers, such as apprenticeships, eliminate the need for financial aid.

Distinguished Fellows

The Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellows, appointed on an annual basis, comprise an exemplary set of global scholars committed to leveraging their individual expertise, thought leadership, research and networks to further the institute’s efforts to examine – and drive solutions to – the most complex and timely issues facing business and the economy today. The 2025 Distinguished Fellows work to support the Kenan Institute’s exploration of the skills gap. 

Sekou Bermiss
Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School, and 2025 Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow
David J. Deming
Isabelle and Scott Black Professor of Political Economy, Harvard Kennedy School, and 2025 Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow
Annelies Goger
Fellow, The Brookings Institution, and 2025 Kenan Institute Distinguished Fellow

Frontiers of Business Conference:
Bridging the Skills Gap

SAVE THE DATE: October 9, 2025 • Carolina Inn, Chapel Hill, NC