The 2025 ETS Human Progress Report brings positive news for the future of credentialing. The Human Progress Index improved from 106.7 to 104.6, signaling a global shift toward greater access to education and upskilling opportunities. This improvement highlights a growing reliance on certification programs to bridge the gap between education and workforce readiness, presenting a unique opportunity for testing organizations to shape the future of credentialing.
Optimism about skill-building opportunities is also rising, with 63% of people feeling positive about reskilling and upskilling options today, increasing to 65% by 2035. This is a clear signal for our industry. The demand for certifications and alternative credentials to validate skills and knowledge has never been higher.
The trends revealed in the 2025 ETS Human Progress Report highlight an opportunity for testing organizations to develop robust, reliable certification programs that help individuals demonstrate their skills in a trusted and scalable way.
Evidence of newly acquired skills
Unchanged from the 2024 ETS Human Progress Report, 88% of respondents worldwide still agree that continuous learning is essential to succeed. And the development and validation of new skills appears to be an important element of this drive for continuous learning.
- 80% of respondents worldwide agree that evidence of newly acquired skills, such as certifications and micro credentials, will be as valued as traditional university degrees by 2035.
- 84% of employees agree that upskilling and reskilling will become the new standard for people throughout their careers.
- 82% of employees say they are actively thinking about how to future-ready their careers to stay relevant in the job market.
Employers are also seeing the value in skills validation and credentials beyond education:
- 89% of HR decision-makers say skills credentials are needed to bridge the gap between higher education and workforce readiness.
- 86% of HR decision-makers in the US say leveraging college degrees as a filter is a dated practice in organizational hiring and leaves a lot of talent on the table.
There is a clear need for increased credentialing opportunities post-education, from both individuals and employers. This presents a critical opportunity for testing organizations to provide standardized assessments and certifications that act as trusted evidence of skills and knowledge. Testing organizations can also take steps to align their offerings with HR decision-makers’ preferences, such as offering certifications that are highly tailored to emerging workplace needs.
Demand for Evidential Currency
In addition to the growing demand for college degree alternatives that evidence up to date skills, there is a desire for benchmarking. 74% of employees agree they would like to benchmark their skills against the skills of others in their industry. And 55% of workers agree they don’t have a good understanding of how their skills compare to the skills of others in their industry.
A new trend is emerging in response to these gaps. What the report describes as ‘Evidential Currency’ – credentials and real-time assessments of skills – is becoming essential for providing individuals with the proof they need to succeed in the job market. Testing organizations are uniquely positioned to deliver this Evidential Currency by offering benchmarking tools, credentials, and industry-specific assessments that allow individuals to compare and validate their skills in real-world contexts.
As the job market becomes more competitive, the value placed on Evidential Currency continues to rise. This trend is most prominent among Gen Z, with 60% of all employees and 65% of Gen Z individuals expressing anxiety about their professional relevance due to the accelerating pace of technological change.
Growth and opportunities for credentialing
To gain Evidential Currency, individuals are taking ownership of their own professional development. They are seeking evidence-based credentials and personalized pathways to future ready their careers.
A growing 67% of all respondents now hold at least one skills credential, with 72% of Gen Z reporting the same. Skills credentials are most common in IT (86%), technology (83%), and financial services (83%).
For testing organizations, this growth represents an opportunity to design agile certification programs that cater to emerging and fast paced industries where demand for credentials is already high. Testing organization can also prioritize creating certifications aligned with high-demand sectors, leveraging their reputation as trusted providers of evidence-based credentials.
It is significant that 72% say, “Earning skills credentials makes me feel like I’m progressing in my career development, education, or personal growth.” So where are people looking to gain these important skills credentials that offer growth and progression? Standardized testing organizations and universities are among the top two trusted providers of certifications or credentials. 57% of respondents note high trust in official testing or assessment organizations as certification or credential providers, not far behind universities (62%).
Credentials as a force for change
The positive news about improved access to learning opportunities isn’t across the board. The report highlights that 71% of individuals agree quality education is only accessible to certain groups, and 84% wish it were easier to access. Financial constraints are the top barrier, with 57% citing education as too expensive.
Despite ongoing disparities in access to career advancement – especially across gender, geography, and disability status – certifications are proving effective in reducing barriers, particularly among disadvantaged groups. Nearly nine in 10 of all respondents (86%) say certifying their skills improves the chance of securing a better or higher-paying job and improves their overall career trajectory.
In addition, most workers view a skills-first economy as one that would provide a fairer job market and pay system. 71% say that skills-based assessments help create a fairer job market and 82% agree tying compensation to an employee’s skill set would create a fairer pay system.
The report shows skills recognition is a powerful force for change, boosting agency and prosperity. About three in five respondents say if skills credentials mattered as much or more than a university degree, their personal motivation to keep upskilling or reskilling would increase (62%).
Increased value of micro-credentials
There’s a notable and continuing shift towards alternative credentialing. 82% of respondents say that in the future, micro-credentials – or short-term, focused certifications – will become a valuable way to showcase skills. This sentiment is even higher among Millennials (85%), women (84%), and college graduates (84%).
Testing organizations can capitalize on this trend by developing micro-credentials that align with employer needs, offering short-term, skill-specific certifications that are easy to update and validate. This opportunity is further evidenced by the fact that 68% of respondents believe skill development should be based on real-world assessments of what individuals can accomplish, drawing from diverse educational, professional, and social experiences.
Discover five options for creating a new micro-credential.
Trust in AI-driven assessments
The importance of integrating technology into certification testing is evident. 66% of global respondents express trust in assessments created or scored by artificial intelligence. Testing organizations can embrace AI to enhance the credibility and efficiency of their certifications with AI-powered tools that help ensure consistent scoring, adaptive test formats, and dynamic item banks to better assess skills.
AI will continue to drive the future of assessments. Already, 6 in 10 people have learned new skills from AI and 4 in 5 recent graduates have had to update their skills within the first two years of graduating. This presents another opportunity, as 70% of employers are interested in a standardized and valid ways to measure digital and AI literacy.
Read about AI learning tools for test takers.
The future of credentialing: broad societal impact
The report concludes that, “Verified skills now offer individuals the agency to break free from the limitations of static résumés and traditional hiring norms, fostering a nearby future where evidence of ability and effort is recognized.” It calls for AI-driven credentialing and coaching platforms, and a collaborative approach, to build ecosystems that validate and value diverse competencies.
Testing organizations are at the forefront of creating meaningful change by driving credentialing innovations. By focusing on trusted, scalable, and accessible certifications, we can not only meet the growing demand for skills verification but also play a pivotal role in shaping a skills-first economy.