What does it mean to “prepare young people for adult work,” an oft-used saying to describe one of schooling’s primary goals? Though it surely means that we prepare them to earn a living and move up the income ladder, work is more than a financial way to provide for ourselves and those we love. Work also builds relationships that increase social capital or the benefits we get from these relationships. So ensuring that schools prepare young people for work means providing them with the cognitive knowledge and social skills they need for economic and social exchange—what I’ve come to call “knowledge that pays” and “priceless relationships.”
What do we know about the role relationships and friendships play in the workplace? The American Perspectives Survey is a source of information on this issue. It is given in English and Spanish to 5,037 U.S. adults eighteen and older by the American Enterprise Institute’s Survey Center on American Life. Here are three insights from that research that provide us with a more complete perspective on work and workplace friendships.
First, workplace friendships are important. Work is the main place where we develop friendships. More than half of workers met a close friend through their or their spouse’s or partner’s place of employment (42 percent and 10 percent, respectively)—more than school, the neighborhood, places of worship, clubs or social organizations, their children’s school, or online. Those with workplace friendships are more satisfied with coworker relationships (74 percent) than those without them (39 percent). Additionally, those with good workplace relationships feel more connected to work than those without them. They find more meaning in work, are satisfied with current employment, and less likely to seek different jobs.
Those without workplace connections report greater feelings of loneliness and isolation. More than one in three (36 percent) report feeling lonely at least a few times in the past week, compared to one in five (20 percent) with at least one close workplace friend.
Second, workplace friendships are distributed unequally. More years of formal education make it more likely that individuals invest in and benefit from socializing with colleagues at and outside their places of employment. Those with a college degree are more likely to have a close friend in the workplace than those without one (45 percent versus 35 percent). And more than half (54 percent) of workers with a post-graduate degree socialize with colleagues outside work at least a few times a year, compared to fewer than two in five (38 percent) without a degree.
Gender also makes a difference. Among the college-educated, women are more invested in socializing with coworkers outside the office than men (55 percent to 47 percent). Though, for women with only a high school degree or less, only 36 percent invest in socializing with coworkers outside work.
Third, Covid affected workplace relationships in unexpected ways. Those working remotely during the pandemic report they were less likely to maintain close relationships with coworkers (16 percent) than those who were in the office part- or full-time (24 percent and 30 percent, respectively).
But surprisingly, all three groups report similar levels of being completely or very satisfied with their level of work-related social engagement (60 percent, 62 percent, and 61 percent), suggesting that each group found what works for them.
And as work went increasingly virtual, social connections shifted with it. Almost two-thirds (62 percent) of remote workers also report they were either very or completely satisfied with the amount of time they spent with their families—whereas around half of hybrid workers (54 percent) and those who were in-person (48 percent) felt the same.
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So preparing young people for work involves more than acquiring the cognitive skills they need to earn a wage that boosts them up the income ladder, as important as that is. It includes ensuring they have the opportunity for experiences—such as athletic participation, extracurricular activities, internships, apprenticeships, volunteer opportunities, and similar activities—that nurture new connections and friendships that develop their social skills or social capital.
The “economics of skill development” studies the relationship between these cognitive and noncognitive domains—acquiring “hard skills” and “soft skills”—including how this relationship affects wages and labor-market success. Harvard economist David Deming has shown that, since 2000, the significance of cognitive skills has declined as a predictor of labor-market wage success. Conversely, the economic importance of noncognitive skills, especially social skills, increased after 1997.
The result is that social skills are a more important predictor of full-time employment and wages. These skills include communicating, cooperating, collaborating, exercising social intelligence, and resolving conflicts. He summarizes this perspective by saying, “Strong cognitive skills are increasingly a necessary—but not a sufficient—condition for obtaining a good, high-paying job. You also need to have social skills.”
In short, an individual’s personal knowledge and social networks are resources that lead to opportunity. So preparing young people for work is about equipping them with the knowledge and skills they need to earn money and develop relationships. Wages and relationships advance worker opportunity and promote human dignity, the essential elements of which are what individuals know—i.e., knowledge that pays—and whom they know—i.e., priceless relationships. This creates an opportunity agenda for making a living and making a life, which means giving workers the financial and social resources they need to foster human flourishing.
