U.S. Will Need Another 20 Million Workers With Some College Education, Report Says

The nation has been producing too few college-educated workers since 1980 and will need an additional 20 million workers with at least some postsecondary education over the next 15 years to meet future economic requirements and to reduce income inequality, says a new report from the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.

The report, by the center’s director, Anthony P. Carnevale, and Stephen J. Rose, follows an analysis released by the center last month that looked at variations in the earnings of workers with degrees in 171 different college majors.

The new report looks at the wage premium in various occupations for workers with a college degree over colleagues with only a high-school education. It finds that across the job market—even in positions that normally do not require a degree—education has benefits. But if the nation continues to underproduce college-going workers, it says, “the large and growing gap between the earnings of Americans of different educational attainment will grow even wider.”

The report, “The Undereducated American,” is available on the center’s Web site.