Jamie Merisotis of the Lumina Foundation recently spoke with the Indiana Chamber Foundation Board of Directors. He discussed Lumina’s main goal – to increase the proportion of Americans with high-quality degrees, certifications and other credentials to 60% by the year 2025.

In the projections of what the U.S. will need in reaching the 60% goal, the number of degrees that would need to be produced between now and then is 23 million. Of those 23 million, estimates are that 10 million are credentials below the Associate's degree level.

Fifty-five percent of all Indiana jobs will require a post-secondary credential by 2018; right now, only 34% of working-age Hoosiers hold an Associate’s degree or higher. Between now and 2025, Indiana will need to produce about 600,000 more credentials than we are on the path to producing to reach the 60% goal.

IndianaSkills.com is committed to sharing current labor market data, and one main goal is to show job seekers what jobs are in demand in order to begin bridging this “skills gap.” These attainment goals are achievable with the good work of organizations like Lumina, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, state workforce agencies and many others.