More Companies Teach Workers What Colleges Don't

Major employers are hiring workers because of what they can do, or what the company thinks they can teach them, instead of the degrees they hold, reports the Wall Street Journal . States as well as the federal government are seeking alternative routes from high school to employment, taking students who might otherwise go to a four-year college, worsening a process that is dividing colleges into winners and losers. Manufacturing, technology, and healthcare sectors are moving fastest to concentrate on skills over degrees because they are the industries struggling the most to fill jobs. Some employers have encouraged dependence on bachelor's degrees as a proxy for skills, says Harvard Business School Professor Joseph Fuller. However, such degree requirements are limiting the number of job applicants and hiking costs for companies and employees. They also frustrate workers, since fewer than 50 percent who go to college end up graduating and getting a job that utilizes their degree. Employees at Schweitzer Engineering Laboratories take classes in algebra, physics, and writing in the factory complex and can borrow books from a company library. Company founder Ed Schweitzer prioritizes education at the firm, fostering an atmosphere where assemblers regularly are promoted to technicians and work alongside engineers.