Across the country, U.S. workers know the rules of the game have changed. Job security no longer comes from tenure, it comes from staying adaptable. According to the 2026 ETS Human Progress Report — 50 States Edition, 78% of workers agree job security no longer exists without continuous adaptation. What the report also makes clear is that they don't expect to navigate it alone.

Workers are calling for coordinated support from an ecosystem of government, employers and educators. The report shows a workforce willing to adapt, but feeling underserved by the systems meant to support that adaptation. Closing that gap is where the greatest opportunity for progress lies.

Seventy-one percent of U.S. respondents say they want the government to help them build the skills needed for workforce readiness. That desire is strongest in states like Alaska, Wyoming, New York, the District of Columbia and Washington, where 82% or more of respondents are looking for public support.

But there's an important nuance in how that support should arrive. When asked what form it should take, the most popular choice — selected by 42% of respondents — was government funding for structured, multi-session courses that end in an assessment and a credential. In other words: people want government funding, but they want it as part of recognized pathways, not delivered as a standalone government program.

That preference is reinforced by trust data. Thirty percent of respondents trust state and local government to assess their skills. By comparison, official credentialing organizations and employers both receive trust ratings of 43%. The implication is straightforward: government support is welcome, but it lands best when it's channeled through institutions with a proven track record for assessing skills.

If government is expected to fund the path, employers are expected to define it. Eighty-nine percent of U.S. respondents agree that employers should partner with them to set goals around the skills credentials that matter for their careers.

Yet the follow-through isn't there. Fifty-seven percent of respondents say it's difficult to get employer support for upskilling, and 72% struggle simply to figure out which skills credentials their employer actually values. The combination of high expectation, low delivery and confusion about what "counts" — marks a clear action point for employers. Converting existing employee training initiatives into clear pathways could make real impact, fast.

The third component of the ecosystem is education, and the data is revealing. Sixty-one percent of U.S. college graduates in the workforce say their university didn't adequately prepare them for it. This number climbs to 76% in financial services and 72% in tech, two fields where the distance between the classroom and the job keeps growing. A similar share, 59%, say their degree simply didn't align with what employers actually needed.

Perhaps as a result, hope is migrating away from traditional education and toward more targeted forms of skill-building. Fifty-seven percent of respondents are optimistic about upskilling and reskilling specifically, compared with 49% for higher education and 47% for K–12.

However, that doesn't mean people have given up on formal education — it means they want it to evolve. Ninety percent agree that educational assessments should include both academic knowledge and practical skills, and 89% want more comprehensive ways of measuring what students can actually do, beyond test scores alone.

The report highlights key action items for each institution within the workforce support system:

• Employers should turn expectations into pathways. Signposting which skills credentials matter and treating credential development as a shared investment rather than a personal side project, would go a long way in preparing the workforce for the future.
• Governments should fund access through trusted partnerships. Rather than delivering support directly, government support would go furthest when routed through credentialing bodies workers already trust.
• Educators should bridge learning and workforce readiness through measurement. Embedding practical skills assessment into K–12 and higher education, so graduates leave with verifiable proof of what they can do, is the reform students, workers and employers are all asking for.

U.S. workers know they need to adapt, but they also know they need help. What they require is a cross-functional support system of government, employers and educators — that can turn their desire to adapt into active upskilling for the future.

Explore the full findings report, including state-level breakdowns, in the 2026 ETS Human Progress Report — 50 States Edition.