LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jul 31, 2025--
Companies large and small across the U.S. share a growing demand for skilled entry-level workers but see a gap in needed skills and certifications among candidates. Most of them believe additional job training and exposure in high school would help significantly.
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Lifelong Learning Administration Corporation (LLAC), a nonprofit that provides administrative and operational support to schools, commissioned an independent survey 1 designed to reveal employer opinions about entry-level hiring, and the impact a public high school education can have on a skilled workforce.
Among the findings, nine in 10 employers say personalized instruction would help produce better-prepared candidates for entry-level positions. The survey results are released in time for August’s Personalized Learning Month, created to promote the idea of teaching students in the way each learns best, with opportunities to learn job and life skills that will serve them after high school.
“The results of this employer survey don’t surprise us at all since we’ve seen firsthand how students thrive by gaining marketable job skills in our partner schools’ personalized learning programs,” said Lifelong Learning Chief Academic Officer Chris Hodge. “We know when we tailor the educational experience to the individual’s goals – including entering the skilled workforce – they are more engaged, achieve better results and are more likely to graduate.”
The survey reveals five key insights about hiring and a skilled workforce in the U.S.:
1. The hiring outlook is strong
2. A need for a skilled entry-level workforce
3. Skilled entry-level workers are paid more
4. Additional training in high school would be ideal for skilled workers and employers
5. Companies want personalized learning that includes job skills training in high school, especially in these areas:
“We have seen outsized support for the concept of teaching students in the way each learns best from parents, teachers, students and now businesses. The good news is personalized learning is already happening in classrooms across the country – students just need more of it,” noted Hodge.
For more information about personalized learning, search in your browser or visit PersonalizedLearningMonth.com.
About Lifelong Learning
Lifelong Learning provides services and support to schools that educate students through a personalized learning model. As a nonprofit, Lifelong Learning is dedicated to empowering other nonprofits and educational organizations that work to enrich lives and communities. For more information, please visit www.llac.org.
1 From Friday, May 16, through Monday, June 2, 2025, J. Wallin Opinion Research conducted an online survey of employers nationwide, plus an oversample in California. 2,000 employers were interviewed nationwide, plus an oversample to equal 450 within California. A survey of this size yields a margin of error of +/-2.2 percent (95 percent confidence interval) nationwide, and +/-4.6 percent within California.
Students in a personalized learning program gain marketable trade skills and certifications through hands-on training
BRUSSELS (AP) — European Union leaders stalled early Friday in talks to provide a massive loan to Ukraine using frozen Russian assets, officials said, as Belgium sought ironclad guarantees from its partners that they would protect the country from any retaliation by Russia.
The leaders want to use the Russian assets for a “reparation loan” to fund Ukraine's military and economic needs for the next two years. Kyiv would only pay back the money once Russia ends the war, now in its fourth year, and pays hundreds of billions for the destruction it has caused.
But the bulk of the assets — some 193 billion euros ($226 billion) as of September — are held in the Brussels-based financial clearing house Euroclear and Belgium wants to protect its interests. Russia’s Central Bank has launched a lawsuit against Euroclear and Belgium has doubts that the loan is legally sturdy.
“After lengthy discussions, it is clear that the reparations loans will require more work as leaders need more time to go through the details,” said an EU official, who was permitted to brief reporters on developments in the sensitive talks on condition that they not be named.
Talks on a plan B of raising the funds on international markets continued, even though there appeared to be no easy way to secure the unanimous support of all 27 member countries for it to pass.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy meanwhile pleaded for a quick decision to keep Ukraine afloat in the new year.
Belgium fears that Russia will strike back and prefers the plan B. It says frozen assets held in other European countries should be thrown into the pot as well, and that its partners should guarantee that Euroclear will have the funds it needs should it come under legal attack.
An estimated 25 billion euros ($29 billion) in Russian assets are frozen in banks and financial institutions in other EU countries, including France, Germany and Luxembourg.
“Give me a parachute and we’ll all jump together,” Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever told lawmakers ahead of the summit in reference to the reparation loan plan. “If we have confidence in the parachute that shouldn’t be a problem.”
The Russian Central Bank's lawsuit ramped up pressure on Belgium and its EU partners ahead of the summit.
The loan plan would see the EU lend 90 billion euros ($106 billion) to Ukraine. Countries like the United Kingdom, which said Thursday it is prepared to share the risk, as well as Canada and Norway would help make up any shortfall.
Russia's claim to the assets would still stand, but the assets would remain locked away at least until the Kremlin ends its war on Ukraine and pays for the massive damage it caused.
In mapping out the loan plan, the European Commission set up safeguards to protect Belgium, but De Wever has remained unconvinced.
Soon after arriving at EU headquarters Thursday morning, the Ukrainian president sat down with the Belgian prime minister to make his case for freeing up the frozen funds. The war-ravaged country is at risk of bankruptcy and needs new money by spring.
“Ukraine has the right to this money because Russia is destroying us, and to use these assets against these attacks is absolutely just,'' Zelenskyy told a news conference.
In an appeal to Belgian citizens who share their leader's worries about retaliation, Zelenskyy said: “One can fear certain legal steps in courts from the Russian Federation, but it’s not as scary as when Russia is at your borders.''
“So while Ukraine is defending Europe, you must help Ukraine,” he said.
Whatever method they use, the leaders have pledged to meet most of Ukraine's needs in 2026 and 2027. The International Monetary Fund estimates that would amount to 137 billion euros ($160 billion).
EU Council President António Costa, who is chairing the meeting, vowed to keep leaders negotiating until an agreement is reached, even if it takes days.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was a case of sending "either money today or blood tomorrow" to help Ukraine.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said that he hopes Belgium's concerns can be addressed.
"The reactions of the Russian president in recent hours show how necessary this is. In my view, this is indeed the only option. We are basically faced with the choice of using European debt or Russian assets for Ukraine, and my opinion is clear: We must use the Russian assets.”
Hungary and Slovakia oppose a reparations loan. Apart from Belgium, Bulgaria, Italy and Malta are also undecided, but as many as nine countries might be required to block the move.
“I would not like a European Union in war," said Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who sees himself as a peacemaker. He’s also Russian President Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in Europe. “To give money means war.”
Orbán described the loan plan as a “dead end.''
The outcome of the summit has significant ramifications for Europe's place in negotiations to end the war. The United States wants assurances that the Europeans are intent on supporting Ukraine financially and backing it militarily — even as negotiations to end the war drag on without substantial results.
The loan plan poses important challenges to the way the bloc goes about its business. Should a two-thirds majority of EU leaders decide to impose the scheme on Belgium, which has most to lose, the impact on decision-making in Europe would be profound.
The EU depends on consensus, and finding voting majorities and avoiding vetoes in the future could become infinitely more complex if one of the EU's founding members is forced to weather an attack on its interests by its very own partners.
De Wever too must weigh whether the cost of holding out against a majority is worth the hit his government's credibility would take in Europe.
Associated Press writers Kirsten Grieshaber in Berlin and Illia Novikov in Kyiv, Ukraine, contributed to this report.
From left, Portugal's Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, European Council President Antonio Costa, French President Emmanuel Macron and Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban during a round table meeting at the EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
European Council President Antonio Costa, center right, speaks with Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, center left, during a round table meeting at the EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Belgium's Prime Minister Bart De Wever, center, speaks with from left, Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides, Netherland's Prime Minister Dick Schoof, Luxembourg's Prime Minister Luc Frieden and Poland's Prime Minister Donald Tusk during a round table meeting at the EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks with the media as he arrives for the EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)
Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban, right, arrives for the EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Omar Havana)
Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, center, is greeted as she arrives for a round table meeting on migration at the EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Olivier Hoslet, Pool Photo via AP)
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, right, and Germany's Chancellor Friedrich Merz, left, attend a round table meeting on migration at the EU Summit in Brussels, Thursday, Dec. 18, 2025. (AP Photo/Olivier Hoslet, Pool Photo via AP)
FILE - A view of the headquarters of Euroclear in Brussels, on Oct. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert, File)
