People who consider a bachelor’s degree the only route to a good-paying job should think again, because the economy is providing similarly gainful employment to workers with just a high school education and those with so-called middle skills, according to a new study by the Center on Education and the Workforce (CEW) at Georgetown University.
While there are about 36 million good jobs for individuals with a bachelor’s degree, there also are about 16 million good jobs for workers with middle-skills preparation and 13 million good jobs for workers with a high school diploma or less, according to the study report, “Three Educational Pathways to Good Jobs: High School, Middle Skills, and Bachelor’s Degree.”
Released Tuesday, the report is based on research conducted by the nonprofit CEW in partnership with global financial services giant JPMorgan Chase & Co.
But how is a “good job” defined? According to the study, it’s one that pays an average $65,000 for workers with a bachelor’s degree or higher, $56,000 for workers with less than a bachelor’s degree or an occupation that pays at least $35,000 a year. Researchers chose these figures in consultation with economists because they are above the 30th percentile in the economy – the “bad” jobs, the report’s lead author and CEW director Dr. Anthony P. Carnevale told Diverse.
According to the “Three Educational Pathways” study, in 1991 – when most good jobs didn’t require a bachelor’s degree – there were 15 million good high school jobs, 12 million good middle-skills jobs and 18 million good bachelor’s-degree jobs. By 2016, the high school pathway had decreased to 13 million good jobs, the middle-skills pathway had grown to 16 million good jobs, and the bachelor’s pathway had doubled to 36 million good jobs – 56 percent of all good jobs.
While it’s “no surprise” that the bachelor’s economy doubled the number of good jobs it provides, “it really struck us that the high school economy still provides 13 million good jobs,” said Carnevale. “We also found it surprising that even though blue-collar jobs declined, middle-skills jobs have grown considerably.”
All of the growth of new good jobs in the non-bachelor’s economy has been in middle-skills positions, especially among those that require an associate’s degree, the study found. Most of this growth was in skilled-services industries, but there also was substantial growth in skilled-technical good jobs in blue-collar industries.
