The Broken Marketplace

America’s School-to-Work Crisis

America’s youth strive for personal and professional success, but many struggle along broken pathways from high school into the job market because the people and institutions meant to support them are fundamentally out of sync.  

Parents want to help,
but rely on an outdated playbook.

Navigators and Educators see the problem,
but lack innovative and effective solutions.

Employers require experience for first jobs,
but don’t offer ways to gain it.

The result is a Broken Marketplace that is stalling the futures of tens of millions of young Americans.

The Broken Marketplace Study is based on insights from detailed interviews with more than 5,700 young adults, parents, navigators and educators, and employers.

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Young People Are Ready. The System Isn’t.

They’re confident and eager to launch, but are navigating an uncertain path with inadeqate support.

45% say the job market and employment resources are broken and don’t provide effective guidance.

46% feel unprepared or unsure of their preparation for jobs of the future.

48% don’t know where to go for information about educational and employment opportunities.

Parents Want to Help. But Their Playbook is Outdated.

Their advice is rooted in personal experience, not present-day reality, causing them to underestimate the challenges and overestimate what they and schools can deliver.

86% are confident they know the steps their child needs to take to achieve their future education and career goals.

62% of parents think the educational system and job market work well and provide effective opportunities to their children.

79% give advice based on past personal experiences, not current external resources.

Navigators See the Problem. But Lack Solutions.  

Stretched thin and under pressure, navigators fall back on outdated tools while many students leave unprepared for what’s next.

53% say they provide support only after a young adult asks for help.

85% don’t collaborate with employers, but still 90% of navigators say that they understand today’s education system and job market well

46% think this generation of young adults is less prepared for their future than previous generations.

Employers Want Experience. But Don’t Help Build It.

Most require experience for entry-level roles, yet few offer the early opportunities young people need to get started.

77% require at least one year of experience for entry-level roles. 50% require two or more years.  

65% agree their hiring process might unintentionally exclude potentially good candidates.

71%
say there are enough opportunities for job seekers, but only 43% of young adults agree. 81% say it’s easy for young people to get a job in their organization.

A Closer Look at the Marketplace

Delve into research highlights from young adults, parents, navigators and educators, and employers. Explore below to find key findings and themes captured through their experiences and insights.

Uncertain Futures

Young adults express concern about the future and feel unprepared to navigate it.

  • 57% are concerned or unsure whether there will be enough job opportunities in the market.
  • 46% feel unprepared or unsure of their preparation for jobs of the future.
  • 54% are concerned or unsure about whether AI will replace the jobs they seek.

In Their Own Words

“There are so many paths, but each path allows you to go down one path and not explore others … [There’s] a lot of different options out there ... and each one expects something different … there’s so much knowledge [that I] can’t get.”
– Male, 20 years old

Enough Opportunities?

Searching for Direction

Young adults are searching for exploration and navigation support.

  • 65% say they are still trying to discover what motivates them or where their passions lie.
  • 64% want hands-on experience to explore career options and build skills before choosing a direction.
  • 45% say the job market and employment resources available to them are broken and offer little real guidance.

In Their Own Words

“I really don’t know what I want my ideal job to look like. I thought I knew what I wanted to do ... but ever since realizing what careers turn out to be, I don’t really know … Maybe people need to start narrowing down their ideas before they graduate [high school].”
– Male, 20 years old

Discovering Purpose

Algorithm as the Advisor

In search of guidance, the algorithm grows as an advisor to young people.

  • 48% say there are educational and career opportunities that they don't know where to look for.
  • 79% use social media to learn about educational opportunities and 70% about careers; and social media is the top tool that young adults use for self-discovery, despite its lack of encouragement by parents and navigators.
  • 20% are already using AI tools to explore education and career ideas.

In Their Own Words

"My main source for advice [on my future] would be TikTok … Honestly, it’s like the new Google. It has [all the] information that you want, and instead of having to read a lot, it’s in a video, it’s a lot quicker … They explain it a lot better … They get more in depth."
– Female, 20 years old

Social Media for Self-Discovery

See a Smoother Road

Parents see a smoother road than the ones their kids are walking.

  • 66% believe the American Dream is real and achievable for their child, compared to only 40% of young adults who feel the same—and parents are more likely than young adults, navigators, and employers to say that the job market and education systems provide effective guidance and opportunities.
  • 71% think their child had an easy experience searching for a job or internship, whereas only 52% of young adults agree.
  • Just 52% think their child is still struggling with the effects of the pandemic —yet 75% of young adults say they are.

In Their Own Words

"I think [our son] has learned that if he chooses the right path … then hopefully he can see more success [than me and his father], because it's not like we don't like our jobs. It's just things are expensive ... I think he sees that."
– Mother of a 17-year-old

American Dream

Outdated Guidance

Parents rely on familiar, outdated advice despite a transforming world around them.

  • 66% of parents think their child should take a path different from their own—and nearly as many think that it is best for their child to explore alternate paths vs. traditional paths.
  • 79%, however, primarily draw on personal experiences when giving advice. And they turn to spouses, family and friends, rather than more current external resources such as social media or school resources.
  • Just 24% express interest in learning about networking events or job fairs for their young adult.

In Their Own Words

“We basically told [our son] there’s no other option. You’re going to college … I think he also wanted to go to college ... so it wasn’t forced. But if he didn’t want to go, he’s still going.”
- Father of a 17-year-old

Resources for Advice

Misplaced Confidence

Parents both overestimate their influence and underestimate the support that their young adults need.

  • 86% are confident that they know the steps their young adult needs to take in order to achieve their future education and career goals.
  • 55% believe they are a key resource in helping their young adult plan for their future, but only 34% of young adults agree.
  • 73% of parents see their child as having direction or purpose on their own and not needing their help. But only 35% of young adults report knowing exactly what drives them.

In Their Own Words

"I don’t navigate [planning his future for him]. I’m there to be a support person ... [My son] is a driven kid, so I trust that he’s making good decisions."
– Mother of a 23-year-old

Parents as a Key Resource

Overwhelmed & Reactive

With best intentions but limited capacity, navigators are reactive and struggle to engage others in support of young people.

  • 53% say they provide support only after a young adult asks for help, driven by high caseloads and resource gaps.
  • 69% say that they offer personalized support, even if doing so limits how many young adults they can help.
  • Just 34% engage families or teachers when assessing young adults’ needs, and only 14% collaborate with employers, basing most guidance on conversations with the young adults themselves.

In Their Own Words

"Class sizes are a little bit too big. And so having to monitor 30 kids at a time … can be difficult to do. If I have to spend a lot of time on a special education student, that makes it difficult for other students because now that time that I could be sharing with the whole class, I [spend] with one special education student.”
– High School Career and Technical Educator

Assessing Needs

Outdated Tools

Navigators rely on traditional tools to guide young adults, despite changing realities.

  • 54% encourage goal-setting to young adults to learn about themselves; however, only 31% of young adults use this tool, keeping with the trend that youth significantly underutilize the resources recommended to them.
  • 70% do not use research-based tools and assessments when working with young adults.
  • 75% believe that college is not enough to get a good job, but still 69% say it’s worth the investment for young adults.

In Their Own Words

"I have students do certain assessments to learn more about their own strengths and values and look at how that would connect to certain careers within different industries. I also have them think about what an ideal lifestyle would look like for them and what pathway maybe they would need to take to achieve that."
–Community College Educator

Traditional Resources

Particularly Pessimistic

Navigators are the most clear-eyed about the system's shortcomings.

  • 58% believe that today's education and job market resources are not providing effective guidance to young adults, making them the most pessimistic of all groups surveyed about the resources supporting this generation.
  • 66% think young adults don’t know where to look for education and job opportunities. Only 48% of young adults and 40% of parents say the same.
  • 97% report that they see young adults still struggling with the effects of the pandemic.

In Their Own Words

"Our students, who are struggling the most with this, are really not just needing more information. They're needing help taking steps, and they’re needing that connection with someone to say, ‘hey, I see your eyes light up when you talk about this.'"
- High School Counselor

Effects of the Pandemic

Employment Catch-22

Employers are caught in a catch-22 of their own making: they demand experience, yet offer few pathways to get it.

  • 77% require at least one year of experience for entry-level roles. 50% require two or more years. And while employers nearly unanimously say they are willing to hire and train candidates without the right experience, only 54% of young adults believe this to be true.
  • 43% require at-least a four-year degree for entry-level roles, and 40% say they maintain the requirement because it is common practice in their industry, not because it is a necessity for the role.
  • Just 38% offer internships and 14% job shadowing opportunities, despite citing lack of experience and skills gaps as key barriers for young job seekers.

In Their Own Words

“I think it’s hard, because the corporate environment that we live in today has zero to no patience for training people … You just don't want to take a risk on someone who doesn't have experience because that means a lot for you.”
– Head of People Experience, International IT company

Willing to Train or Not?

Broken On-Ramp

Employers say it's easy to get hired, but their systems tell another story.

  • 65% acknowledge their hiring processes may be filtering out strong candidates, but 81% still say it’s easy for young adults to get a job in their organization.
  • 34% receive more than 100 applications per entry-level opening. Nearly 60% receive over 50 applications.
  • 57% of employers use AI to filter these submissions, most of which come through online job platforms. Less than half of employers report giving feedback to all unsuccessful applicants.  

In Their Own Words

“The human resources and recruiting, everything’s AI now … So what I do is, I come up with a job description, and then two months later they come back with recruits.”
– Senior Process Manager, Global Sales

Filtering Out Strong Candidates

Mismatched Expectations

Employers doubt young adults' commitment to and readiness for the roles they seek.

  • 53% cite high turnover rates as a challenge they associate with hiring young talent, as 96% meanwhile cite retention and long-term commitment as important hiring considerations.
  • 41% think young adults have unrealistic expectations about salary, benefits and the realities of the workplace and 39% cite the time and financial investment needed to develop young adults as a challenge.
  • 44% think that youth are ill-prepared for entering the workforce.

In Their Own Words

“Inappropriate expectations … These are folks that are expecting some interesting, different work schedule, or any capacity to work from home … And everything we’re doing is in-person, 8 to 5, Monday through Friday. And so folks are trying to have different schedules and thinking that'll be possible.”
– Regional Health Administrator, Health Services

Preparedness for the Workforce

The Fractures in the Marketplace

Hover to explore examples of the misaligned expectations and critical disconnects among navigators and educators, parents, employers and young people. See how everyone is caught in a finger-pointing loop, each expecting the other to fill the gap.

The Cost of the Broken Marketplace

This Broken Marketplace holds back millions of young Americans from achieving their full potential, impacting their ability to reach personal and professional success and receive the full promise of America.

It also has significant consequences for the future of the U.S. economy, particularly efforts by the U.S. government to increase domestic industrial production, which will require a larger pipeline of skilled worker.

While recent graduates are encountering challenges in landing jobs, there remain millions of open positions across the country. However, many of those roles require specialized skills, such as the operation of advanced manufacturing equipment, that most recent graduates don’t possess.

Many of those unfilled jobs in the current labor market—and more so in the future—require applicants to possess more than just a high-school degree. Yet too many young adults, as the survey reveals, lack the guidance and resources they need to acquire the necessary skills and credentials.

Addressing the shortage requires a fundamental realignment of every actor in the Broken Marketplace—from parents and educators who can better navigate young people to skill pathways, and employers who are willing to do more to train new hires.

This Broken Marketplace impacts all of us. It is already holding back more than 15 million young Americans from achieving their full potential, hindering their ability to reach personal and professional success and receive the full promise of America.

It also has significant consequences for the future of the U.S. economy, particularly efforts by the U.S. government to increase domestic industrial production, which will require a larger pipeline of skilled workers.

Of the approximately 30 million Americans between 18 and 24 years old, more than half are unemployed, churning through low-wage jobs or working in roles beneath their educational attainment, according to an analysis by the Burning Glass Institute.

While there are millions of open positions across the country, many of those roles require specialized skills that most recent graduates don’t possess.

Many of those unfilled jobs in the current labor market—and more so in the future—require applicants to possess more than just a high-school degree. Yet too many young adults, as the survey reveals, lack the guidance and resources they need to acquire the necessary skills and credentials.

Addressing the shortage requires a fundamental realignment of every actor in the Broken Marketplace—from parents and educators who can better navigate young people to skill pathways, and employers who are willing to do more to train new hires.

Additional Findings

Explore what the research has to say about five significant challenges impacting young adults.

Go Deeper

Understanding Young Adults in a New Way

Young adults face different challenges and opportunities on their journeys from school to work. We identified five distinct segments of 18–24 year-olds, defined by their demographics, circumstances, and mindsets. These key segments offer a clear framework to design more precise, effective support.

Learn More

A Better Marketplace

Our research provides key insights to not just patch the old model, but to design a better marketplace with more informed choices, accessible resources and greater opportunity for all.

Read More

About the Study

This landmark national study—commissioned by the Schultz Family Foundation and conducted by HarrisX—offers an unprecedented, multi-stakeholder view into the fractured systems shaping how young people transition from school to work in America.

Based on surveys of young adults aged 16-24 , as well as parents ,educators, and employers, the research exposes deep misalignments in guidance, expectations, and access to opportunity.

It reveals a generation ready to work and thrive—yet increasingly stranded by outdated institutions, a broken education-to-employment pipeline, and support systems out of sync with today’s realities.  

Further Commentary, Recent Updates, & Earned Media

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Key Issues / Guest Collaborator Spotlight

Youth Leadership Development

Leadership skills are vital for youth success.
BY:
David Brown
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