Nine Out of 10 New Jobs Are Going to Those With a College Degree

U.S. Department of Labor data indicates that 91 percent of the net increase in jobs held by those at least 25 years old in the last year are filled by those with at least a bachelor's degree, reports MarketWatch . The last recession seems to have widened the wage chasm between college-educated and less-educated workers. Anthony Carnevale with Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce says Labor's data illustrates growing employment for those with at least a bachelor's degree, lower gains for those with some college education, and slippage in employment by those with a high school degree or less. He partly attributes this trend to upscaling, and a study he co-authored found about 60 percent of the 55 million job openings in this decade are to replace retiring baby boomers; however, employers will now demand these replacements have better training instead of allowing them to learn on the job. The fact that most new jobs are going to the college-educated shows the value of the $1.5 trillion in student loans that have accumulated. Georgetown estimated that 66 percent of the new jobs being created require some post-secondary education, with about 33 percent needing at least a bachelor's degree. A Harvard Business School study warned employers seeking college graduates makes many "middle-skills jobs" harder to fill, and once hired, subjects employers to greater turnover rates as well as higher pay.