Members of the Pennsylvania Business Council are adding their voices to the call for statewide mandatory graduation exams.

Eighty percent supported -- strongly or somewhat -- a proposal to require high school students to pass a series of final exams in reading, math, science, writing and social studies to graduate in a survey done for the Pennsylvania Business Council Foundation.

"For many years, our organization and our members have been concerned about the quality of Pennsylvania's workforce and the availability of qualified, skilled workers for jobs in the global, information-based economy," said David Patti, president and CEO of the business council. "We have plenty of anecdotal evidence that employers have concerns."

The poll of 400 businesses was conducted between May 7 and 18 by Susquehanna Polling and Research and has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.

The Pennsylvania Business Council is a merger of Pennsylvanians for Effective Government and the Pennsylvania Business Roundtable.

The poll also revealed mostly positive attitudes. Two of three people rated the quality of the workforce in Pennsylvania as "excellent" or "good" in terms of "being able to meet the business community's demand for skilled or trained workers." Most thought the quality of the workforce has gotten better or stayed the same in recent years.

Even so, 71 percent said they found the basic skills of job candidates who had only a high school diploma to vary by a "significant" or "moderate" amount.

And 68 percent said they "very often" or "somewhat often" received applications from job-seekers who lacked the skills, knowledge or both needed for the position.

The end-of-course, graduation exams -- known as Keystone Exams -- have been so controversial in Pennsylvania that the state Legislature last year issued a moratorium to prevent the state Board of Education to take any actions advancing the exams until after July 1 this year.

The board is expected to take up the issue again when it meets it Pittsburgh on July 15 and 16.

The state Department of Education recently angered opponents of the proposed graduation exams by executing a seven-year, $201 million contract with Data Recognition Corp. that includes developing the exams, model curricula and diagnostic tools to help identify students who need help.

In a push for stronger graduation requirements, the state Board of Education last year made an initial publication of regulations calling for students to pass six of 10 "graduation competency assessments" in math, language arts, social studies and science; the Pennsylvania System of School Assessment tests; Advanced Placement or International Baccalaureate exams; or a local assessment that independent evaluators certify is equivalent to the graduation competency assessments. It would start in the 2013-14 school year.

The exams have been gaining some momentum among various statewide groups, with the Pennsylvania School Boards Association and the new Coalition for Effective and Responsible Testing -- which includes the Pennsylvania State Education Association -- endorsing variations of state tests in recent months.

More survey results are available on the Web at www.pabusinesscouncil.org.