Americans Without College Degrees Are Having One of the Best Job Markets in Years
What is just as remarkable is how different that is from the experience of job seekers who did graduate from college, says Gad Levanon, Burning Glass’s chief economist. For most of the past two decades, the two groups largely tracked each other, in good economic times and bad.
Now, though, just as job hunters without degrees are having one of their best runs, those with college educations are having one of their worst. And those with advanced degrees or in fields such as science and technology are having an even harder time than usual.
That divergence of fortunes is a departure from what the U.S. economy has seen for years, and much of it boils down to supply and demand: There aren’t enough skilled tradespeople to go around, for example, as older generations retire and immigration drops.
Meanwhile, more Americans have college degrees than ever, just as artificial intelligence is doing more of the entry-level work companies typically hire young graduates for.
“There’s a rapidly growing supply of people with a bachelor’s degree, and you have a rapid decline of people who don’t,” Levanon says. “I don’t think it’s a temporary thing.”
