The United States Bureau of Labor Statistics has just released findings from a study it conducted on the relationship between higher education and employment opportunities and found that during the decade spanning from 2008 to 2018, jobs are expected to rise by more than 15 million. This has been good news for many who saw more than 8 million jobs wiped out during the recession that began in 2007. The forecast was announced by the Center of Education and the Work Force at Georgetown University located in Washington DC and it showed a very strong disconnect between jobs that employers sought to have filled and those in the US who had the education and skill set required to perform them. The research specialists involved with the project at the University said that more than 63% of all jobs will require at least a small amount of post secondary education. Altogether, future employers will need 22 million workers who have at least an associates degree.However, that is more than 3 million jobs more than the US population is expected to produce due to lack of funding for higher education that is becoming a bigger and bigger problem in the nation.
According to the Center’s Director of Research, Jeff Strohl, the economy is experiencing a massive shift away from a state in which having a high school education was good enough to be able to get a job. He went on to say that while this has been true for more than 30 years, it is getting to be much more prevalent than before.
