The latest international data represent a mixed bag for those worried about school capacity to prepare young adults for college and careers.
Both in the United States and globally, more young people successfully moved on to either higher education or a career after secondary school in 2025 than a decade before, according to the latest “Education at a Glance” compendium, released Tuesday by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The share of young people ages 18-24 who were neither working nor in higher education dropped from 16% to 14% on average across OECD countries, including the United States.
Nearly half of those ages 25-34 across OECD countries had completed higher education in 2025, up from 42% a decade before.
In the United States alone, 39% of young adults headed straight to the workforce after high school, and 46% enrolled in some form of higher education.
But the OECD also found more than 40% of workers with some postsecondary education and 18% of workers with postsecondary degrees still did not have solid foundational skills in literacy, numeracy, and what OECD calls “adaptive problem-solving.” That last measure—in which someone can define a problem, search for information, and apply a solution across different contexts—is intended to reflect “the evolving nature of the problem-solving skills needed in today’s complex and digital world.”
“Degrees are always an important signal of what people can do, but they’re not a guarantee for all of the kinds of skills that people need at the workplace,” said Andreas Schleicher, the OECD director for education and skills, in a briefing on the data. “Helping young people acquire strong foundation skills is one of the best guarantees we have. ... Better skills mean better jobs, mean better lives.”
Senior executives from U.S. companies have told Education Week that skills like communication, problem-solving, collaboration, and adaptability are in short supply among younger workers.
The OECD data show that those who had high skills in literacy, numeracy, and adaptive problem-solving not only had higher average salaries across countries but also were more likely to have careers with flexible schedules or the ability to telework.
The OECD’s annual compendium includes education data for preschool through higher education and workforce training in 38 member countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas, as well as eight partner countries with more limited data, including Brazil, China, and South Africa.
