Nearly 40 percent of employers say new workforce entrants with just a high school diploma as 'deficient' in reading comprehension. Over half (53.5 percent) say new workforce entrants are "deficient" in mathematics. According to the standardized testing reported in The Nation's Report Card, 77 percent of 12th graders were below proficient and 39 percent were below basic.

The future workforce is here and it is ill-prepared. That is the conclusion of a recent study of people just entering the workforce. The Nation's Report Card report presents results from a national assessment of 12th graders' reading and mathematics abilities.

The results coincide with the dim view held by employers of the readiness of new entrants to the workforce revealed in Are They Really Ready to Work? - the report was issued by The Conference Board, Corporate Voices for Working Families, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management.

The NAEP results show reading ability of 12th graders falling, with the bottom of the distribution most notably losing ground.

Says Linda Barrington, Research Director at The Conference Board and one of the authors of Are They Really Ready to Work?: "This is consistent with nearly 40 percent of the employer respondents to our survey rating new workforce entrants with just a high school diploma as 'deficient' in reading comprehension."

The similarity carries over to the assessment of mathematics as well. Over half (53.5 percent) of the employer respondents to the Are They Really Ready to Work? survey rated new workforce entrants with just a high school diploma as "deficient" in mathematics. According to the standardized testing reported in The Nation's Report Card, 77 percent of 12th graders were below proficient and 39 percent were below basic.

"These numbers perfectly book-end the rating of employers last fall," adds Barrington. The population of students assessed by The Nation's Report Card includes both those going on to post-high school education and those going directly into the workforce. The employer respondents to the Are They Really Ready to Work? survey, on the other hand, were assessing the readiness just of those entering the workforce, implicitly excluding the better prepared high school graduates who are going on to college.

The Conference Board, along with Corporate Voices for Working Families, Partnership for 21st Century Skills, and the Society for Human Resource Management, is planning a CEO Summit this summer to address business priorities for improving workforce readiness.