Does Higher Education Guarantee Soft Skills Competence? Evidence from Employed Ghanaians

The increasing integration of automation and artificial intelligence into the workplace has intensified the im-portance of soft skills for employability and career sustainability. While higher education institutions are wi-dely expected to foster these competencies, questions remain regarding the extent to which tertiary education enhances soft skills readiness, particularly in developing economies. There is also limited data on the effect of demographic factors such as gender, age, and work experience on these skills. Data were collected from 256 employed individuals using a quantitative cross-sectional survey design across various sectors in Ghana. Descriptive statistics and non-parametric inferential tests, including the Mann-Whitney U and Kruskal-Wallis tests, were employed to examine differences in perceptions across educational levels and demographic variables. The findings indicate that employees perceive tertiary education as more effective than senior high school edu-cation in developing soft skills. The respondents generally reported high levels of soft skills, and the study observed no significant differences based on gender, age, or work experience for soft skills developed during tertiary education. This suggests that in Ghana, soft skills are viewed as foundational competencies primarily shaped through formal education rather than demographic or experiential factors.