The idea of soft skills playing a key role in success at work isn’t a new concept. Over 100 years ago, Charles Rigborn Mann published extensive research into the need for better soft skills training in both school and work.
But what does the data say today?
What are soft skills?
Soft skills are any skill or quality that can be classed as a personality trait or attribute. These skills and behaviours such as creativity, empathy, critical thinking and interpersonal skills shape the way we work, act and interact with others. Check out our What are soft skills post for more information.
Soft skills statistics
The global soft skills training market is currently worth around $23 billion and is expected to reach over $47 billion by 2027! (Imarcgroup)
In one survey 91% of recruitment professionals agreed that soft skills are very important to the future of recruitment and HR (Linkedin)
One study conducted by Yale University found that employees with emotionally intelligent managers were happier, more creative, and more innovative (Yale)
A survey by Linkedin found that the top five most in-demand soft skills are creativity, persuasion, collaboration, adaptability and emotional intelligence (Linkedin)
A survey by Digits found that leadership soft skills are considered the most important soft skill for a manager to have, with nearly half (47%) of all UK adults agreeing (Digits)
The same survey found that leadership soft skills, verbal communication and teamwork soft skills were most valued by those aged 55+ (Digits)
Research conducted by Harvard University has concluded that 85% of job success comes from having well developed soft and people skills, and only 15% of job success comes from hard technical skills (Interviewarea)
A study by Deloitte stated that soft skill intensive jobs will grow 2.5x faster than other jobs (Deloitte)
By 2030 soft skills jobs are predicted to make up 63% of all jobs (Deloitte)
Less than 1% of Australians have no soft skills listed on their Linkedin profiles (Deloitte)
According to LinkedIn, 92% of talent professionals and hiring managers said that soft skills matter as much or more in recruitment than hard skills. 89% say that bad hires typically lack the right soft skills (Linkedin)
Further reading
Employee engagement stats 2022
Diversity & Inclusion stats 2022
Sources
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/linkedin-2019-talent-trends-soft-skills-transparency-trust-bersin/
https://www.interviewarea.com/faq/why-soft-skills-are-important-statistics
https://www.clevry.com/insights/why-hiring-for-soft-skills-is-the-future-of-recruitment
https://www.digits.co.uk/soft-skills-statistics/
https://www.linkedin.com/business/talent/blog/talent-strategy/global-recruiting-trends
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/jocb.436
https://www.nationalsoftskills.org
