About Career Readiness
A worker is prepared for their career if they have the skill sets necessary to do the job successfully. Career readiness can begin with early childhood education and continue through retraining programs for experience professionals seeking to gain new knowledge. Career readiness is rewarded in the job market through higher wages, increasing financial stability.
Career Readiness in Idaho
Idaho children are enrolled in preschool at a rate 11 percentage points lower than the national average, with just 33.8 percent enrollment in the state. While 52.3 percent of Idaho’s 8th graders performed at or above proficiency in reading exams in 2017, just 38.7 percent of Idaho’s 8th graders performed at or above proficiency in math. Nine percent of working aged Idahoans did not graduate from high school and likely face more difficulty finding a job that pays the bills.
The share of Idaho’s population with post secondary education is increasing though. One in 10 working Idahoans has an associate’s degree as their highest level of education, almost 1 in 5 has a bachelor’s degree, and almost 1 in 10 have a graduate degree. At the end of 2017, there were 1,214 registered apprenticeship programs in Idaho.