The Undereducated American

By Anthony P. Carnevale & Stephen J. Rose

Our analysis of wage and employment data shows that the United States has been under producing college-educated workers for decades. Postsecondary education is in high demand among employers—and as the recovery takes hold and hiring resumes, it will continue to be in high demand. The undersupply of postsecondary-educated workers has led to two distinct problems: a problem of efficiency and a problem of equity.

Without enough talent to meet demand, we are losing out on the productivity that more postsecondary-educated workers contribute to our economy. Moreover, scarcity has driven up the cost of postsecondary talent precipitously, exacerbating inequality. The result is that, as we lose our global lead position in percentage of the workforce with postsecondary credentials, we have become the global industrialized leader in income inequality. The growing disparity in earnings between those with a college education and those without is the principal reason for this widening chasm. To resolve these twin dilemmas, we propose adding an additional 20 million postsecondary educated workers to the economy and increasing degree attainment rates.

Continued at: http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/undereducatedamerican.pdf