Skills-based hiring is now the stated default at most employers, but the practice still lags the promise. In TestGorilla’s 2025 State of Skills-Based Hiring report, 85% of employers said they use skills-based hiring, up from 81% a year earlier, and 53% said they have dropped degree requirements, up from 30%. Yet Harvard research on skills-based hiring found the approach changed fewer than 1 in 700 hires in the year it studied. And Indeed Hiring Lab reports that 19.3% of US job postings still required a bachelor’s degree in November 2025, up from 16.6% in November 2023. This page pulls those datapoints, and the labor market data around them, into one 2026 reference.
Summary / Key statistics at a glance
- 85% of employers use skills-based hiring, up from 81% in 2024 (TestGorilla, 2025).
- 53% of employers have eliminated degree requirements, up from 30% in 2024 (TestGorilla, 2025).
- Fewer than 1 in 700 hires were actually changed by skills-based hiring in the year studied (Harvard research, 2024).
- 19.3% of US job postings required a bachelor’s degree or higher in November 2025, versus 16.6% in November 2023 (Indeed Hiring Lab, January 2026).
- 51% of US job postings list no formal education requirement (Indeed Hiring Lab, 2026).
- 75 million+ US workers are skilled through alternative routes rather than a bachelor’s degree (Opportunity@Work).
- 92% of construction firms looking to hire had difficulty finding qualified employees (US Department of Energy, 2026 USEER).
- 57% of construction firms said candidates lacked the needed skills or licenses (DOE 2026 USEER).
- 112,000 new registered construction apprentices in 2025, up 9% from 103,000 in 2024 (DOE 2026 USEER).
- 7.1 million US job openings in August 2026, including 522,000 in manufacturing and 251,000 in construction (Bureau of Labor Statistics, September 2026).
- 39% of workers’ existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated by 2030 (World Economic Forum, 2025).
How many employers use skills-based hiring in 2026?
Most of them say they do. TestGorilla’s April 2025 survey of 1,084 hiring decision-makers and 1,076 job seekers in the US and UK found that 85% of employers use skills-based hiring, up four points from 81% in 2024. Adoption figures vary by survey sample and by how each study defines the practice, so treat any single percentage as a range rather than a fixed fact.
The tools behind the shift are specific. In the same TestGorilla report, 76% of employers use skills tests, 69% use soft skills tests, and 50% use cognitive ability tests. Resumes are losing ground as the sole filter: 67% of employers still use them, down from 73% in 2024. About 36% of employers now test candidates before they screen resumes.
Employers also report results. TestGorilla found that 84% of employers using skills tests say they made quality hires, 66% say tests reduced mis-hires, and 60% say they cut time-to-hire. Employers using skills-based hiring were nearly twice as likely to be very satisfied with recent hires (34%) as those that do not (18%). These are vendor-run survey figures from employers that chose to adopt the approach, so read them as directional.
Degree requirements: dropping on paper, stubborn in postings
The share of employers saying they have eliminated degree requirements jumped from 30% in 2024 to 53% in 2025, according to TestGorilla. The US figure was higher than the UK figure, at 57% versus 50%.
Job posting data tells a more cautious story. Indeed Hiring Lab found that 19.3% of US jobs required a bachelor’s degree or higher in November 2025. That is slightly below pre-pandemic levels, but it is up from 16.6% in November 2023. A small majority of postings (51%) do not ask for any formal education, and about 23.5% mention being open to, or preferring, candidates with a bachelor’s, master’s, or doctoral degree.
Geography matters. In Indeed’s November 2025 data, Washington, DC posted the highest share of degree-required jobs at 43.7%, followed by Washington state at 31.5%. Mississippi (11.3%), Montana (12.0%), and Nebraska (12.5%) had the lowest. Indeed’s conclusion was blunt: despite the skills-first push, bachelor’s degrees remain a powerful screening tool in several regions.
The say-do gap: pledges versus hires
The sharpest datapoint in this field comes from Harvard. Its skills-based hiring research found that the increased opportunity promised by skills-based hiring had borne out in not even 1 in 700 hires in the year it examined.
The study sorted firms that dropped degree requirements into three groups:
- Leaders (37%) raised their share of workers hired without a bachelor’s degree by nearly 20% in the roles analyzed.
- In name only (45%) changed job postings but showed no meaningful difference in actual hiring behavior.
- Backsliders (about 20%) made short-term gains that did not last.
The payoff for firms that follow through is measurable. Non-degreed workers at leader firms had a retention rate 10 percentage points higher than their degree-holding colleagues, and non-degreed workers hired into roles that previously required degrees saw a 25% salary increase on average. Harvard also estimated that skills-based hiring could be readily applied to at least another 250,000 jobs each year. This is the 2024 edition; it remains the most detailed public measurement of the gap, so we cite it with its year.
Who skills-based hiring is meant to reach
Opportunity@Work estimates that more than 75 million American workers, about half the US workforce, are STARs (Skilled Through Alternative Routes): they built their skills through community college, military service, certificates, or on-the-job learning rather than a bachelor’s degree. Of those, 33 million are “Rising STARs” working in low- and middle-wage jobs who already have the skills for higher-wage work, and 3 million are “Shining STARs” who have already broken through to high-wage roles.
The group is concentrated in the talent pools that industrial employers recruit from. Opportunity@Work reports that 61% of veteran workers and 64% of workers in rural areas are STARs. It also estimates that 7.5 million middle- and high-wage jobs were closed to STARs over the past 20 years.
Skills-based hiring in energy, construction, manufacturing, and transportation
For employers in the trades and industrial sectors, skills-based hiring is not a new idea. Licenses, certifications, apprenticeships, and demonstrated field experience have long been the entry ticket for electricians, linemen, welders, CDL drivers, and plant technicians. The 2026 data shows why those credentials matter more, not less.
The US Department of Energy’s 2026 US Energy and Employment Report counts 8.4 million energy workers in 2025, or 5% of all US jobs, down 1% (about 86,000 workers) from 2024. Even with that slight decline, hiring remains hard. The report finds that 92% of construction firms looking to hire had difficulty finding qualified employees, that 57% of construction firms said candidates lacked the needed skills or licenses, and that 42% of firms increased spending on training and professional development. Construction establishments tied to energy sectors reported hiring difficulty rates of 65% to 78%.
The apprenticeship pipeline is one of the clearest skills-first responses. The same report shows 112,000 new registered construction apprentices in 2025, a 9% increase over the 103,000 recorded in 2024. Pay is part of the pitch: the USEER puts median energy sector pay at $63,000, versus $51,000 for the US overall, a 24% premium.
Openings remain broad. The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ JOLTS release for August 2026 (published September 29, 2026) shows 7.1 million total US job openings, a 4.3% openings rate. By industry, that included 522,000 openings in manufacturing, 338,000 in transportation, warehousing, and utilities, 251,000 in construction, and 25,000 in mining and logging.
Manufacturing’s long-run gap is larger still. The Manufacturing Institute and Deloitte projected in 2024 that US manufacturing may need as many as 3.8 million new employees between 2024 and 2033, with 1.9 million of those positions at risk of going unfilled without action on skills gaps. In that research, 65% of manufacturers named attracting and retaining talent as their primary business challenge. These are 2024 projections, the most recent edition of that study.
Emerging trends and what’s new in 2026
Adoption is high; follow-through is the story. The 2025 and 2026 data point the same way. Adoption claims (85%) and degree-dropping claims (53%) are far ahead of measured hiring change (under 1 in 700 hires in Harvard’s data), and degree requirements in postings edged up between November 2023 and November 2025 (16.6% to 19.3%, per Indeed). Journalists covering the beat should treat “we use skills-based hiring” as a statement of intent until a company shares hiring outcomes.
Verification is the new bottleneck. As more candidates use AI to polish applications, proving skills gets harder. TestGorilla found 73% of employers noticed AI-generated resumes, 86% of US employers reported resume problems, and 17% of job seekers admitted to cheating on a skills test, 70% of them using AI. Employers are responding with layered assessment: 33% use multiple measures, and 91% of those multi-measure users report success.
Skills themselves are shifting faster than job titles. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2025 projects that 39% of workers’ existing skill sets will be transformed or become outdated between 2025 and 2030, down from 44% in the 2023 edition. About 63% of employers called skills gaps the biggest barrier to business transformation, and 70% expect to hire staff with new skills. Static degree requirements are a poor fit for a skills picture that changes this quickly.
Skills-based and holistic hiring are converging. TestGorilla found 72% of employers agree that holistic hiring improves outcomes, and 78% of employers said soft skill gaps showed up among their hires. The practical read: employers want proof of technical skill and evidence of judgment, communication, and reliability.
Credentials still carry weight in regulated trades. In energy and construction, licenses and certifications are the skills proof. The 57% of construction firms reporting candidates without the needed skills or licenses suggests the issue is not removing requirements, but verifying the right ones and widening the pool of people who can earn them.
How Tall Trees Talent helps
Tall Trees Talent helps contractors and infrastructure firms fill hard-to-staff project management, engineering, and field leadership roles with recruiters who have worked in the industry themselves, so candidates are screened on proven skills and certifications rather than résumé polish. Explore construction recruiting to see how it works, or learn more about the firm.
