the profession. Further, many employers reported that the skill set of the recently hired graduates had improved compared to those in 1990s, in particular for so-called soft skills.

Academy for Education Development (AED) carried out an employer survey in Egypt, with the objective of providing recommendations to the Ministry of Higher Education on how to improve the quality of Middle Technical Colleges graduates (AED, 2008). A sample of 240 companies was selected based on stratified sampling technique (by size: small, medium, and large). AED sent surveyors to companies for personal interviews. 92 companies fully completed the survey questionnaire (38% response rate). The survey found that the level of skills demanded by employers had increased, mainly because: (i) higher levels of technology, (ii) increasing competition, and (iii) increasing concerns about quality of products. The survey also indicated that companies prioritize ―soft skills‖ including personality (honesty, punctuality, etc) and what they labeled ―basic skills‖ (literacy, problem solving, management, etc). The AED‘s employer survey was especially helpful for our employer satisfaction survey to determine relevant questions of employer characteristics. Data availability on employers‘ characteristics enabled us to scrutinize the survey results disaggregated by employers‘ characteristics.

In addition to the survey instruments above, we refer to several papers applying different analytical tools on data from employer surveys. Paranto and Kelker (1999) analyzed employers‘ satisfaction with job skills of business college graduates in a regional university in the US. They examined which skills employers perceived important when hiring business graduates. 346 employers were identified for the survey by the university‘s placement office. They are mostly in rural areas in the upper Midwest of the US, and hired business graduates during the 1990-94 period. 136 employers responded (39% response rates). By using factor analysis, 18 variables (skills) were reduced to four major factors, namely specific skills, core skills, personal characteristics, and communication skills (See Table 1).

**Table 1: Skills under Four Factors**

|**Specific Skills**|**Core Skills**|**Personal**<br>**Characteristics**|**Communication Skills**|
|---|---|---|---|
| Database knowledge<br> Spreadsheet<br>knowledge| Self confidence<br> Critical thinking<br> Creative thinking| Business ethics<br> Professionalism| Listening skills<br> Speaking skills<br> Written|
| Word processing<br>knowledge| Interpersonal skills<br> Leadership skills||communication|
| Ability to adapt to<br>changing technology<br> Technical skills| Experience with real<br>world problems|||
| Mathematical skills||||

A t-test revealed that the mean importance rating of the ―Core Skills‖ is statistically significantly higher than that of ―Specific Skills‖. In addition, analysis of variance showed that there is no statistically significant difference in the importance of ―core skills‖ among employers of different size and different economic sectors. Hence, the survey shows that the importance of ―Core Skills‖ cuts across all participating firms. Paranto and Kelker 5