The Skills Gap Holds Back the Industry

U.S. Students Are Not Competitive in Math and Science

There is a disturbing gap between the math and science performance of students in the U.S. and their counterparts in our principal trading partners and competitors. This figure depicts the scores of students in a number of industrialized and developing economies that participate in the OECD’s Program for International Student Assessment (PISA). This system of international tests is designed to measure the proficiency of 15-year-old students in such areas as reading, math, and science. The data in the figure are scaled to an OECD average.

The U.S. math literacy score is below the OECD average and the scores from Japan, Canada, Poland, Germany, Czech Republic, and the UK. Similarly, the U.S. lags in science skills. Such data are a clear call to action for public and private investment in workforce skills. Without these efforts, future U.S. innovation strength will be compromised.