Are soft skills the new STEM?

The last few decades have seen many organisations call out for more investment into STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) skills as a crucial backbone for the economy. While STEM skills are still increasingly a necessity, some businesses might underestimate the importance of soft skills.

Recent research by Harvard economist David Deming for NBER has concluded that possessing STEM skills is not sufficient for being successful in the workplace. Deming found that jobs requiring high social interaction grew by 12% between 1980 and 2012 while math-intensive (but less social) jobs shrank by over 3% during the same period.* Employment and salary growth were particularly high for jobs requiring high levels of both STEM skills and soft skills.

What does this mean? Not only do more and more jobs require soft skills, these skills are also vital for your career progression, from landing a good job to earning a high salary. The difference in salary rises can be up to 20%.

This is not surprising when you think about it. Strong analytical or domain-specific skills can only take you so far when you can’t communicate your ideas well, manage a team effectively or work efficiently.

Businesses would be foolish not to invest in soft skills

In 2015, research by McDonald’s estimated that soft skills contribute £88 billion to the economy each year.** This number should be significantly higher by now. The same research found that over half a million UK workers working mainly in food services, retail, healthcare and leisure industries will be significantly held back by a lack of soft skills by 2020.

The conclusion is simple: soft skills are a top priority for your career development and businesses would be foolish not to invest.

This article was first published by Thomas Buus Madsen on LinkedIn Pulse. Thomas is the COO and co-founder of Bookboon, the world’s largest e-book publisher for employee effectiveness and soft skills. By making its platform incredibly easy to use and only publishing industry-leading experts, Bookboon boasts some of the highest usage rates in the digital learning sector.

Get a free copy now of Bookboon’s “21st Century Corporate Learning & Development” by Prof. Dr. Nick van Dam, Global Chief Learning Officer at McKinsey & Co.