Of the 8,000 workers sampled, only 1,054 surveys were completed. This only permitted analysis of only 29 occupations across all descriptors. For these occupations, the results generally affirm the initial profiling efforts done by the job analysts. Although it is sometimes difficult to differentiate among knowledge, skill and ability in practice, they are distinct concepts in theory. Knowledge refers to information that has been acquired though formal education, training, or specific experiences.
Skills refer to developed capacities that facilitate learning or performance.
Finally, abilities are defined as underlying characteristics of individuals which are related to effective or superior performance in a job. It also includes additional information on workers, such as the type of values and interests that are common among workers in certain occupations. These additional descriptions were not used in the construction of the Most Marketable Skills database, and therefore no discussion of them is included in this report.