ACT has issued a series of reports concerning the role of skills in today's job market and the growing importance they play in predicting workplace success. This is the third report in the series. This report highlights the levels of work readiness for various subgroups of an estimated 4 million ACT WorkKeys® examinees in the United States and provides ACT Work Ready Standards and Benchmarks for targeted occupations over the next 8-10 years. Data are presented for ACT WorkKeys examinees from 2006-2011 for three cognitive assessments: Reading for Information, Applied Mathematics, and Locating Information. These three skills have been consistently identified as important for success in a broad range of jobs, making them "essential" foundational skills. Occupational profiles in the ACT JobPro® database were used to determine work readiness benchmarks for three selected groups of targeted occupations (those projected to be in demand, growing, and high paying) and grouped into three education categories (high, middle, and low). This report investigated the assumption that individuals with a given level of education have the requisite skills for occupations requiring that level of education. A gap analysis was conducted to compare examinees by education group for occupations requiring similar levels of education for entry into employment. "Skills gap" was defined as a gap between the skills needed for a job requiring a given level of education versus those skills possessed by workers with that level of education. [For the first report in the series, "A Better Measure of Skills Gaps: Utilizing ACT Skill Profile and Assessment Data for Strategic Skill Research," see ED523298. For the second report in the series, "Work Readiness Standards and Benchmarks: The Key to Differentiating America's Workforce and Regaining Global Competitiveness," see ED546848. The following author's provided support and contribution in writing this report: Hope Clark, assistant vice president of workforce research, ACT; Kurt Burkum, director of policy research, ACT; and Tobin Kyte, principal research associate, ACT.]