A report from the Georgetown University Center on Education has found that college graduates holding a bachelor’s degree now make up 36 percent of the workforce, making them the majority for the first time in history.

Until the 1980’s, 70 percent of the workforce consisted of people with no college education. In the past, people without a college degree could work their way up to mid-level positions with higher pay and benefits. Those positions are becoming harder to find as employers make higher education a requirement for entry-level positions.

Since the recession ended, 11.6 million new jobs have been added to the economy. Of those jobs created, 11.5 million went to people with some level of higher education, with 8.5 million jobs going to people with a bachelor’s degree or higher. Only 80,000 new positions were filled by people with no higher education.

This trend is going to force some substantial changes to education in the future. While college graduates across the board have lower unemployment rates, there is going to be a push to cut liberal arts programs. Colleges need to create more focused programs and get more students to graduate in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) fields. Education is also going to need to become more accessible so less affluent families can get access to higher education and therefore employment.

Additionally, with more people having a bachelor’s degree, simply having a college education is soon not going to be enough to be a standout candidate. Next Step Academy seeks to give students and employees an edge with life skills and professional development courses. These courses are quick, informative and help learners become better employees — and better in life in general.

 

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