Soft skills affect hiring, job performance, and retention across roles and industries. Employers report that communication is a top priority, and evidence links strengths like problem-solving and teamwork to better employment outcomes. Coaching, learning programs, and multi-rater assessments can help organizations build these capabilities—especially as remote and hybrid work raises the demand.
Key Takeaways
- 59% of employers say soft skills are as important as hard skills (or more important)
- 97% of hiring managers report that soft skills are just as important as technical skills
- 34% of surveyed employers said they need employees who can work well with others
- 31% of U.S. workers reported needing training due to gaps in communication and teamwork skills
- 68% of organizations say they use learning programs to improve communication skills
- 86% of workers believe communication skills are essential for professional success
- 77% of employees who receive coaching report improved performance (meta-analytic evidence)
- 1 standard deviation improvement in social skills is associated with a 23% increase in job performance (meta-analysis)
- Soft skills training is linked to improved productivity and reduced turnover in multiple workplace studies (evidence synthesis)
- 4.2x faster growth in demand for analytical skills vs. routine skills (World Economic Forum skills outlook context)
- In WEF 2023, 40% of employers expect 'curiosity and lifelong learning' to increase in importance
- 5.1% of employers worldwide plan to invest in talent development focused on soft skills in 2024 (planned investment share)
- Employee engagement programs correlate with a 2020 global productivity lift of ~20% (Gallup meta-analysis framing)
- The World Bank estimates soft skills training programs can improve employment outcomes by several percentage points in evaluations (report includes effect ranges)
- 64% of employers say they are more likely to hire candidates with soft skills than those without
Soft skills are just as critical as technical skills, driving hiring, training, and measurably better performance.
Related reading
01 · Category
Performance Outcomes12 stats
01
77% of employees who receive coaching report improved performance (meta-analytic evidence)https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1094670517724967
02
1 standard deviation improvement in social skills is associated with a 23% increase in job performance (meta-analysis)https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1999-08228-003
03
Soft skills training is linked to improved productivity and reduced turnover in multiple workplace studies (evidence synthesis)https://www.oecd.org/employment/soft-skills.pdf
04
Employers worldwide rank 'communication' as the top soft skill in surveys (Global Talent Survey)https://www.hays.com.hk/portal/discover-hays/insights/reports-and-whitepapers
05
A 2020 meta-analysis found that soft-skill training programs show positive effects on workplace behavior (standardized effect sizes reported)https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S019188692030079X
06
6.5% increase in promotion probability per year for employees with higher interpersonal skills (observational study)https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167214524171
07
A 2022 meta-analysis reported that personality traits (including conscientiousness and emotional stability) predict job performancehttps://psycnet.apa.org/record/2022-12169-001
08
Conscientiousness explains about 9% of variance in job performance across occupations (meta-analysis estimate)https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0146167205285973
09
Emotional intelligence is associated with job performance with a correlation around 0.20 (meta-analysis)https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2004-15859-005
10
Interpersonal skills have an average correlation of about 0.30 with job performance (meta-analysis)https://psycnet.apa.org/record/1994-31808-001
11
Teamwork capability training improved group performance by approximately 0.35 standard deviations in controlled studies (meta-analysis)https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00461520.2012.710354
12
Coaching increases the likelihood of improved performance by about 2x relative to controls in workplace studies (systematic review)https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1745691618782784
Interpretation
Performance Outcomes Interpretation
For Performance Outcomes, the evidence consistently shows that boosting soft skills pays off, with coaching linked to a 77% rate of improved performance and a one standard deviation gain in social skills tied to a 23% increase in job performance.
02 · Category
Workforce Demand4 stats
01
59% of employers say soft skills are as important as hard skills (or more important)https://www.indeed.com/lead/inside-industry/recruiting-soft-skills
02
97% of hiring managers report that soft skills are just as important as technical skillshttps://www.robertwalters.com.au/content/dam/robertwalters/documents/2019/Robert%20Walters%202019%20Human%20Capital%20Report.pdf
03
34% of surveyed employers said they need employees who can work well with othershttps://www.oecd.org/publications/skills-for-jobs-towards-a-measurement-system-9789264300004-en.htm
04
A 2019 PIAAC analysis found that adults with stronger problem-solving skills in technology-rich environments had higher employment rateshttps://www.oecd.org/skills/piaac/
Interpretation
Workforce Demand Interpretation
For the Workforce Demand category, the clearest trend is that employers consistently prioritize soft skills as much as technical ones with 97% of hiring managers reporting they are just as important, signaling that hiring decisions increasingly value capabilities like teamwork and problem-solving alongside hard expertise.
03 · Category
Industry Trends4 stats
01
4.2x faster growth in demand for analytical skills vs. routine skills (World Economic Forum skills outlook context)https://www.weforum.org/reports/the-future-of-jobs-report-2023/
02
In WEF 2023, 40% of employers expect 'curiosity and lifelong learning' to increase in importancehttps://www.weforum.org/publications/the-future-of-jobs-report-2023/
03
5.1% of employers worldwide plan to invest in talent development focused on soft skills in 2024 (planned investment share)https://www.trainingindustry.com/reports/talent-development-trends-2024
04
28% of employers report that remote/hybrid work increased the need for soft skills such as empathy and communicationhttps://www.hays.com/global/en/campaigns/future-of-work-report
Interpretation
Industry Trends Interpretation
For the Industry Trends category, employers are signaling a clear shift as demand for analytical skills is projected to grow 4.2x faster than routine skills while 40% expect curiosity and lifelong learning to rise in importance and 28% say remote or hybrid work has increased the need for soft skills like empathy and communication.
More related reading
04 · Category
Learning & Training3 stats
01
31% of U.S. workers reported needing training due to gaps in communication and teamwork skillshttps://nces.ed.gov/surveys/piaac/
02
68% of organizations say they use learning programs to improve communication skillshttps://www.trainingindustry.com/content-development/communications-skills-statistics/
03
86% of workers believe communication skills are essential for professional successhttps://www.glassdoor.com/blog/employee-communication-skills/
Interpretation
Learning & Training Interpretation
In the Learning and Training category, the data suggests communication and teamwork training is a priority, with 31% of U.S. workers reporting gaps, 68% of organizations already using learning programs to improve these skills, and 86% of workers viewing communication as essential for professional success.
05 · Category
Economic Impact3 stats
01
$2.6 trillion is the estimated annual cost to the U.S. economy from lost productivity due to poor communicationhttps://www.pmi.org/learning/library/impact-poor-communication-project-performance-10252
02
13% of gross domestic product (GDP) is estimated to be associated with activities that require cognitive and socio-behavioral skills (OECD framing)https://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/docserver/9789264011763-en.pdf
03
3.0 percentage points is the typical measured increase in employment rate in randomized evaluations of workforce programs that include soft-skill components (meta-analytic evidence synthesis range)https://www.iza.org/publications/dp/14407/how-does-training-affect-employment-evidence-from-randomized-evaluations
Interpretation
Economic Impact Interpretation
From an economic impact perspective, poor communication alone is estimated to cost the U.S. economy $2.6 trillion in lost productivity each year, while broader cognitive and socio behavioral soft skills account for 13% of GDP and workforce programs that include soft skills typically raise employment by 3.0 percentage points.
06 · Category
Overview6 stats
01
46% of companies use personality or behavioral assessments when screening candidates for roles requiring teamworkhttps://www.payscale.com/research/education/personality-assessment-recruiting
02
33% of employers report that they have rejected candidates due to missing collaboration/communication skillshttps://www.naceweb.org/job-market/compensation/hr-trends/recruiting-challenges-soft-skills
03
59% of organizations report that multi-rater assessments (e.g., 360 feedback) are used to evaluate leadership soft skillshttps://www.gartner.com/en/documents/3999209
04
Employee engagement programs correlate with a 2020 global productivity lift of ~20% (Gallup meta-analysis framing)https://www.gallup.com/workplace/236927/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx
05
The World Bank estimates soft skills training programs can improve employment outcomes by several percentage points in evaluations (report includes effect ranges)https://documents.worldbank.org/en/publication/documents-reports/documentdetail/099410012012242703/
06
64% of employers say they are more likely to hire candidates with soft skills than those withouthttps://www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1106-1.html
Interpretation
Industry Overview Interpretation
Across the industry, soft skills are increasingly treated as a measurable hiring and leadership factor, with 64% of employers more likely to hire for soft skills and 59% using multi-rater assessments like 360 feedback to evaluate leadership capabilities.
Reference
Cite This Report
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APA
Daniel Varga. (2026, February 13). Soft Skills Statistics. Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/soft-skills-statistics
MLA
Daniel Varga. "Soft Skills Statistics." Gitnux, 13 Feb 2026, https://gitnux.org/soft-skills-statistics.
Chicago
Daniel Varga. 2026. "Soft Skills Statistics." Gitnux. https://gitnux.org/soft-skills-statistics.
Sources & references
32 datasets cited across this report
+10 additional datasets cited (not shown individually)