New Report Shows Need for More College-Educated Workers

A brand new report released by the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce, The Undereducated American, has found that over the past 30 years, the demand for college-educated workers in the United States has exceeded the supply, and this shortage has created numerous economical issues as well as cost the U.S. the number one global position in college graduates, and pushed the U.S. to the number one industrialized nation in income inequality.

According to the report, in order to turn the situation around, the U.S. would need to add “20 million postsecondary-educated workers to the economy by 2025.”

If the U.S. fails to meet the demand of college-educated workers, the report shows that by 2025, Bachelor degree earnings will be 96% more than high school diploma earnings. However, if the U.S. adds the 20 million postsecondary-educated workers to the workforce by 2025, the income gap will be much lower, with Bachelor degree earnings at 46% more than high school diploma earnings.

“Today, about two-thirds of young people in their late teens attend college for at least a year. We estimate that to meet the demand for more skilled workers and to keep the Bachelor’s degree to high school wage premium at 46 percent, the number of youth attending college for at least a year will need to rise to 86 percent by 2025.”

 

The reports authors assert that adding the necessary amount of college-educated people into the workforce by 2025 is not impossible and will make the U.S. “educational attainment comparable with other developed nations.”

Read more about The Undereducated American.