A new report calls for federal investment in training for jobs that require education beyond high school, but short of a bachelor’s degree. It calls such jobs a crucial ticket to middle-class life.
The study, released this month by Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce, says 29 million—21 percent—of the economy’s 139 million jobs are those so-called “middle jobs.” Two-fifths of such jobs pay more than $50,000 a year, the report says.
It urges federal spending on career-technical education that opens pathways to postsecondary education and jobs, and it recommends creating an information system to link high school and post-high-school transcripts with employer wage records to show various programs’ success at “producing job-ready graduates.”
