In today’s economy, there is a mismatch between job availability and job seekers. Lawmakers have been trying to tackle the issue of degree inflation at all levels.
Just this month, Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) sought to change the way state employees are hired. He announced a new effort to expand job opportunities to those without degrees. Shifting to skills-based hiring and removing the degree requirement for specific roles can greatly expand the pool of qualified workers for public roles while helping to control costs.
Why is this issue so pressing? Over 70 million people in America have valuable work experience but lack a college degree. About 60% of public jobs require a college degree, but only about 35% of workers have a college degree. “Degrees have become a blanketed barrier to entry in too many jobs,” Cox observed. He continued, “Instead of focusing on demonstrated competence, the focus too often has been on a piece of paper. We are changing that.” Of the 1,080 jobs in the state’s executive branch, 98% do not require a bachelor’s degree.
The sentiment is shared by both public and private sector leaders with a presence in Utah. Joanne Smith, Delta Air Lines’s executive vice president and chief people officer; David Woolstenhulme, Utah System of Higher Education commissioner; and Brandy Grace, Utah Association of Counties CEO, support Cox’s initiative.
It’s not just Utah.
Another Republican governor, Larry Hogan (MD), has also moved to mitigate degree inflation. He’s enacted an executive policy to remove college degree requirements from specific state roles. The Maryland policy focused primarily on administrative, information technology, and customer service roles and has shown a 41% increase in non-degree-holding hires year over year from May to August 2022.
While some jobs may require specific skill sets that can only be obtained through a college degree, most qualified candidates can be successful in administrative, IT, and customer service roles with the right training and previous skill sets. Military veterans are a great example of a group that would benefit almost immediately from a change in hiring practices. When a veteran leaves service, he or she generally has more than two years of active experience and some sort of relevant leadership and training skills. By changing degree requirements for public sector roles, qualified veterans would be eligible for immediate employment for roles where they can apply these skills. This lets them save their GI bill benefits for education they actually want rather than merely checking the box for an employer.
In a time when the government is discussing forgiving student debt, why not work to create a system which frees people from the burden of accruing it in the first place? Lawmakers at all levels are noticing this problem and are taking action to change hiring practices. By focusing on public sector positions, we can help guide state governments on how to implement and reform their hiring practices. Why should a college degree prohibit qualified candidates from gaining employment where they can be successful? This is the right time to make a change.
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Stacey Guber is a visiting fellow at the Cicero institute.
