Battelle, the Columbus, Ohio, research and development organization, released its first Applied Workforce Outlook on September 9, 2026, a national survey on how readiness for work is being defined as AI tools spread through the economy. Its central finding for anyone in workforce development: educators are far more confident than employers that today's curricula prepare students to apply what they learn on the job. For program chairs, career services staff and hiring managers, the report also shows which interventions employers and educators say would help, including apprenticeships and competency-based credentials.

Who was surveyed

The report draws on an online survey conducted from April 21 to May 1, 2026, by Morning Consult on behalf of Battelle. It reached 3,629 people across eight groups:

  • Corporate decision makers and HR decision makers
  • High school educators and higher education educators
  • Gen Z adults ages 18 to 29 and teens ages 13 to 17
  • Parents
  • Opinion leaders, which the report labels opinion elites

The survey asked which skills matter most, where preparation falls short, who is responsible for building the workforce and what actions would strengthen the talent pipeline.

How employers now define readiness

The report says degrees, certifications and technical expertise still count, but that employers are giving more weight to how people apply knowledge. Corporate and HR decision makers ranked adaptability, continuous learning, communication, critical thinking and collaboration among the most important capabilities, and the report says they value those foundational skills nearly as much as job-specific expertise.

On AI, employers placed more importance on understanding how AI works, and where it falls short, than on using AI tools efficiently. Only about one-third treat effective AI tool use on its own as a defining measure of job readiness, according to the report.

The confidence gap on curricula

The sharpest split in the data is over whether current curricula prepare students to apply their skills in real workplace settings. The share of each group saying it was very or somewhat confident:

  • Higher education educators: 85 percent
  • High school educators: 80 percent
  • Corporate decision makers: 46 percent
  • HR decision makers: 46 percent

Gen Z respondents reported lower confidence in their own preparedness across many of the capabilities employers rank highest. When employers were asked where younger workers struggle most, they pointed most often to critical thinking and problem solving, applying knowledge in real situations, and communication. Among employers who see a significant gap between education and workforce needs, limited hands-on experience and too little emphasis on workplace skills were cited more often than inadequate AI instruction.

The report's interpretation is that the gap is less about access to technical knowledge or AI coursework and more about chances to use that knowledge in practice. It frames practice as a new prerequisite: solving real problems, applying knowledge in unfamiliar situations, working across disciplines, making decisions and learning from feedback.

What respondents say would help

Respondents chose from a list of measures that could improve the supply of people ready for applied work. Selected results for educators and employers:

  • Apprenticeships and work-based learning tied to school: 57 percent of HR decision makers, 52 percent of corporate decision makers, 42 percent of high school educators and 29 percent of higher education educators.
  • Competency-based credentials focused on real-world skills: 59 percent of HR decision makers, 50 percent of corporate decision makers, 35 percent of high school educators and 25 percent of higher education educators.
  • Expanded career and technical education in K-12: 41 percent of corporate decision makers and 39 percent of high school educators.
  • Stronger partnerships between employers and schools: 44 percent of both corporate and HR decision makers, and 32 percent of high school educators.
  • Required capstone or applied projects before graduation: between 22 and 30 percent across the four groups.

For credentialing and workforce development programs, one pattern is visible in the chart: competency-based credentials were the option HR decision makers selected most often, while higher education educators selected it less often than any of the other three groups.

Who owns which skills, and the report's roadmap

The survey also asked who is primarily responsible for building specific skills. Respondents most often named K-12 teachers and schools for basic digital skills (52 percent), communication (44 percent) and critical thinking (33 percent). Parents were most associated with emotional and social skills (57 percent). Individuals themselves were most often named for creativity (37 percent) and the ability to learn new skills over time (33 percent). Employers did not lead any category.

Battelle describes the result as a fragmented system and proposes a roadmap with three parts: clarify responsibilities among educators, employers, government and families; connect pathways through jointly designed projects, internships and apprenticeships; and create a feedback loop so programs change alongside technology and work.

The report closes with three questions it suggests any part of the workforce system can use to check itself: whether preparation is evolving with technology and work, whether people are getting chances to apply what they learn, and whether stakeholders are working toward shared outcomes. Deans and employer partners reviewing work-based learning, co-op programs or industry credential offerings can use the group-by-group tables in the full report to compare their own assumptions with what each audience reported.

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