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Pluralsight's 2025 Tech Skills Report: Addressing the Skills Gap in Tech

In its latest survey, Pluralsight sheds light on a troubling trend in the tech workforce. According to their 2025 Tech Skills Report, a staggering 95% of professionals indicate they lack the necessary support for tech learning, despite 95% of executives claiming that fostering a culture of learning is a priority for their organizations.

This discrepancy highlights a significant disconnect between the intentions of leadership and the realities faced by IT and business professionals. The report draws on insights from 1,500 tech executives, IT practitioners, and business professionals across the U.S., U.K., and India.

Key Findings

1. A Stalling Progress in Closing Skills Gaps

For the fourth consecutive year, lack of time has been identified as the primary barrier to skill development. While 67% of organizations reported progress in narrowing the IT skills gap, this figure has decreased by 11% from the previous year. The lack of essential technical skills has forced nearly half of IT and business professionals to abandon projects in the last year, with the most affected areas being cybersecurity, cloud infrastructure, AI and machine learning, and DevOps. This trend underscores the widening enterprise-wide demand for tech upskilling across various departments.

Executives, IT teams, and business professionals alike have declared cloud skills as the top priority for 2026 due to its critical role in digital transformation and AI implementation.

2. Cost-Effectiveness of Employee Upskilling

With the urgent need for critical tech skills, many companies have begun to recognize that upskilling their current workforce is both more efficient and cost-effective than hiring new talent. According to the report, 89% of organizations confirmed that hiring IT experts incurs higher costs than augmenting their existing teams. The numbers support this conclusion:

• - 73% of surveyed companies spend under $5,000 on upskilling each employee, while nearly half project spending over $5,000 to hire one tech employee.
• - In the U.S., costs average $5,770 for upskilling versus $14,170 for hiring, reflecting a 145% savings through internal development.

Additionally, 43% of organizations noted that upskilling enables teams to rapidly engage in vital projects, completely overhauling the speed of achieving results.

3. Promotions Tied to Technological Proficiency

The report points out that certifications in tech skills significantly influence advancement opportunities for professionals. Approximately 46% of IT personnel and 47% of non-technical staff reported salary increases or promotions as a result of newly acquired tech skills, frequently obtained through company-led upskilling initiatives. This finding emphasizes an emerging trend where non-technical professionals are increasingly gaining valuable tech skills, which can accelerate their career progression and enhance their value in the organization.

Conclusion

As the workforce faces rapid technological changes, investing in continuous learning has never been more vital. Organizations are challenged to translate the understanding of learning cultures into actionable strategies, ensuring that their employees have the necessary resources and time to hone their skills effectively. Given the accelerating pace of innovations in areas like cloud computing and AI, organizations must prioritize internal training to remain competitive in the tech landscape.

For more in-depth findings, the full 2025 Tech Skills Report is available for download at Pluralsight’s official site. Let’s not allow the aspiration of a skilled workforce to remain a gap between intention and action. Together, let’s work towards a culture that values and supports continuous learning in the tech industry.