Access to Opportunity

The Need for Universal Education and Training After High School

By Anthony P. Carnevale

The gold standard for adequacy in K-12 education—for all children, both our own and other people’s—is access to postsecondary education and training. Already, the share of primeage workers, ages 30 to 60, in jobs that require some level of postsecondary education has doubled since 1973, rising from 30 percent to 60 percent. And in spite of the increasing supply of workers at this level, postsecondary wage advantages also have doubled over the same period.

Official data on job openings understate the true share of jobs that require postsecondary education. The number of openings that require high school or less is inflated, because turnover is higher in those jobs. (There are a lot more brain surgeons who used to be dishwashers than dishwashers who used to be brain surgeons.) In addition, the official numbers ignore the 14 percent of Americans—about 20 million workers—who complete from one to five years of postsecondary nondegreed training, including apprenticeships as well as nondegreed vocational certificates and certifications.

Nor do these official “snapshot” data show the postsecondary momentum in job requirements. Most occupations are hybrids that include people with a variety of education and training credentials, but the strong trend in these hybrids, especially among new, younger entrants, is toward more postsecondary education and training and higher wages for...